BREEDING DENSITY AND NEST SITE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PEREGRINE FALCON FALCO-PEREGRINUS-MINOR IN THE SOUTHWESTERN CAPE, SOUTH-AFRICA

A survey of nest sites and nest site characteristics is used to obtain an estimate of the breeding density of the Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus minor in the southwestern Cape, South Africa. The breeding density from a small intensively studied area around the town of Stellenbosch is extrapolated to the region. This extrapolation is justified since nest site characteristics suggest that suitable sites are widespread in the region. Lower and upper estimates of 48 and 95 pairs respectively were obtained for the area above 300 m. This gives densities of one pair per 199 km2 for the lower estimate and one pair per 100 km2 for the upper estimate. For the entire study area the densities are one pair per 806 km2 and 407 km2 respectively.