Razor

Is a Gyr/Saker falcon. He has a very stubborn attitude. He loves to play with my hair which is quite a sweet thing really.

The saker falcon (Falco cherrug) is a very large falcon. This species breeds from Eastern Europe eastwards across Asia to Manchuria. It is mainly migratory except in the southernmost parts of its range, wintering in Ethiopia, the Arabian peninsula, northern Pakistan and western China

The specific part of the scientific name, cherrug, comes from the Hindi name charg for a female saker. The common name saker comes from the Arabic صقر (pronounced saqr) meaning “falcon”

The saker falcon is a large hierofalcon, larger than the lanner falcon and almost as large as gyrfalcon at 47–55 cm (18-22 inches) length with a wingspan of 105–129 cm (42-50 inches). Its broad blunt wings give it a shadow similar to gyrfalcon, but its plumage is more similar to a lanner falcon’s.

Saker falcons have brown upperbellies and contrasting grey flight feathers. The head and underparts are paler brown, with streaking from the breast down. Males (called sakrets in falconry) and females are similar, as are young birds, although these tend to be a duller brown. The call is a sharp kiy-ee.

The saker falcon is a raptor of open grasslands preferably with some trees or cliffs. It often hunts by horizontal pursuit, rather than the peregrine’s stoop from a height, and feeds mainly on rodents and birds. In Europe, ground squirrels and feral pigeons are the most common prey items. This species usually builds no nest of its own, but lays its 3-6 eggs in an old stick nest in a tree which was previously used by other birds such as storks, ravens or buzzards. It also often nests on cliffs.

The gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) also spelled gerfalcon, is the largest of the falcon species. The gyrfalcon breeds on Arctic coasts and the islands of North America, Europe, and Asia. It is mainly a resident there also, but some gyrfalcons disperse more widely after the breeding season, or in winter. Individual vagrancy can take birds for long distances. The gyrfalcon is dispersed throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere, with populations in Northern America, Greenland, and Northern Europe. Its plumage varies with location, with birds being coloured from all-white to dark brown. For centuries, gyrfalcon has been a precious hunting bird, highly valued among the Vikings. It is the national symbol of Iceland.

The gyrfalcon is a very large falcon, being about the same size as the largest buteos (buzzard hawks). Males are 48 to 61 cm (19 to 24 in) long, weigh 805 to 1350 g (1.8 to 3 lbs) and have a wingspan from 110 to 130 cm (43 to 51 in). Females are bulkier and larger, at 51 to 65 cm (20 to 26 in) long, 124 to 160 cm (49 to 64 in) wingspan, and of 1180 to 2100 g (2.6 to 4.6 lbs) weight. Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 34.5 to 41 cm (13.6 to 16.1 in), the tail is 19.5 to 29 cm (7.7 to 11.4 in), The gyrfalcon is larger than the peregrine falcon, which it is known to hunt, and differs from the buzzard in general structure, being unmistakably a falcon with pointed wings, and broader-winged and longer-tailed than the Peregrine.