The Peregrine Fund

Location: Idaho, United States.
Founded: 1970 by Tom Cade.
Species: American Kestrel, Aplomado Falcon, California Condor, Crowned Eagle, and Peregrine Falcon.

Table of Contents

What is The Peregrine Fund?

The Peregrine Fund is a non-profit dedicated to conserving and protecting the world’s peregrine falcon populations.

Based in Boise, Idaho, they’ve got a handful of facilities helping them do their thing.

The foundation tackles conservation with scientific research, captive breeding, public education, advocacy for smart environmental policy, and hands-on field projects all over the globe.

In the U.S., they focus on restoring wild populations across North America.

Internationally, they’re busy safeguarding peregrines worldwide.

The Wallacean Initiative? That’s their team-up in Asia, keeping an eye out for illegal trafficking of native New World raptors.

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Where is the Peregrine Fund?

You’ll find The Peregrine Fund in Boise, Idaho—a private group that comes up with creative conservation solutions.

They focus on breeding for large-scale habitat restoration, research and science, and keeping tabs on how well their efforts work.

Their reach is global, but birds of prey always take center stage.

They champion wild birds and their habitats through three main programs: The Northern Program (North America), The Neotropical Program (Latin America), and The Mediterranean Program (Europe, Asia, and the Middle East).

The Peregrine Fund runs projects in 42 countries. That’s a lot of ground!

Right now, they’re breeding 26 species of birds of prey, plus five other avian species.

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The Peregrine Fund’s Mission

The Peregrine Fund’s mission? Conserve peregrine falcons and their habitats across America.

Scientists and bird lovers founded it back in 1970, worried about the sharp population decline of North America’s most dazzling raptor.

Honestly, they nailed it. They’ve helped bring back more than 1,000 pairs of peregrines, plus ten other species that rely on these fierce aerial hunters.

The Peregrine Fund rolls up its sleeves and gets involved—whether that’s through research, land preservation, conservation easements, or pushing for science-based management of raptors.

They’re fierce about protecting critical wildlife habitats.

What’s their biggest contribution? Sticking with long-term, deep-dive research on peregrines and the ecosystems they depend on.

They’ve thrown financial support behind captive breeding, tracking, remote camera surveys, migration studies, winter roost surveys, and more.

Their research has shaped what we know about peregrine behavior, biology, and population dynamics—covering everything from migration to wintering.

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Birds of prey under The Peregrine Fund

For over forty years, The Peregrine Fund has been fighting to protect and conserve birds of prey.

Their mission? Safeguard raptors and their habitats, and get people excited about these incredible birds.

Some of the birds under their wing include Northern Goshawks, Tundra Swans, Florican, Prairie Falcons, Ferruginous Hawks, Golden Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks, Bald Eagles, and Northern Harrier Hawks.

The World Center for Birds of Prey is their flagship facility. Here, they breed birds through captive programs and host public education events about birds of prey.

Other facilities? There’s The Microwave Raptor Tracking Program, International Conservation Programs, The Wilds, The Wild Animal Sanctuary, and The Raptor Conservancy of Virginia.

Here’s a quick list of some of the birds The Peregrine Fund works with.

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American Kestrel

The American Kestrel is a tiny but fierce falcon in the genus Falco.

You’ll spot them all over North America and into Central America—from the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Madre, stretching to southern Canada and throughout Mexico.

These little raptors survive in such a massive range thanks to their knack for adaptation. That adaptability is honestly what makes The Peregrine Fund’s work with them so successful.

The team sometimes captures adults and juveniles, then releases them back into the wild—helping boost populations where breeding in the wild isn’t always an option.

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California Condor

The California condor takes the crown as the largest flying bird in North America.

Its wingspan? Over nine feet, sometimes. One wild condor even tipped the scales at 30 pounds, 6 ounces—that’s heavier than some scooters, honestly.

Condors usually nest on rugged cliffs, under overhangs, or tucked away in caves.

They incubate eggs for about 28 days, and the chicks stick around the nest for six months, then tag along with their parents, learning the ropes of survival.

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Peregrine Falcon

The Peregrine Falcon is a medium-sized raptor, and let’s be honest—it’s legendary.

It holds the title of fastest animal on Earth, clocking in at over 300 km/h during its hunting dives.

These falcons mostly hunt small birds, but they’ve been known to take down bigger prey too.

They usually nest on skyscrapers or cliffs, living wild for up to a year—though, honestly, with all those dangers out there, who knows how long some make it?

has also played a role in falconry.

Projects

The Peregrine Fund started out with a single mission: bring back the Peregrine. They pulled it off—by 1999, the Peregrine was off the U.S. Endangered Species List.

Now, they’ve widened their sights. The fund works with over 100 bird species in 65 countries.

They’re all about protecting birds worldwide. Research, captive breeding, habitat conservation, and education—those are their main tools.

The Peregrine Fund uses drones to track peregrines.
They work to sustain healthy populations of Peregrines and other birds.
They join Audubon’s annual Christmas Bird Count in Hawaii.
The fund helps support citizen science projects with Audubon and NatureWatch.
They monitor penguins in the Galapagos.
The team developed a peregrine detection dog for the USFWS.
They dive deep into scientific research.
The group steps up for endangered species.
They encourage cooperation among individuals for conservation, not just rare species restoration.

The organization keeps tabs on injuries and deaths among birds of prey. They also try to raise awareness for local and global conservation efforts.

If you want to get involved, The Peregrine Fund offers lots of volunteer opportunities. They’re always on the lookout for folks to join citizen science projects.

They also team up with the World Center for Birds of Prey to help endangered birds breed.

The Microwave Raptor Tracking Program? That’s a network of towers across several countries—the United States, Mexico, and China, just to name a few.

They use transmitters to follow hawks as they soar, gathering data on their flight paths.

The whole point of the Microwave Raptor Tracking Program is to learn how raptors move and behave around the world. Pretty fascinating, honestly.

The Peregrine Fund’s International and Local Conservation Programs help raptors in three countries: South Africa, The Philippines, and The West Indies.

Collaborations with Other Bird Organizations

At the heart of The Peregrine Fund’s mission is a serious commitment to protecting birds all over the globe. They team up with a bunch of nonprofit organizations to make it happen.

Collaboration is key. The Peregrine Fund works with groups dedicated to avian protection and conservation worldwide.

They’ve got partners in the U.S. and abroad—like The Wetlands Institute in New Jersey, The Walserten Institute in Switzerland, and The China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation.

The Peregrine Fund also joins forces with groups like The IUCN World Conservation Union, The Species Survival Commission of The American Association For The Advancement Of Science, and The International Union for The Conservation of Nature.

They also work with The Wildlife Management Institute, The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and The Klamath Bird Observatory in Oregon. It’s a long list, but it shows their dedication.

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How to help

Want to support The Peregrine Fund’s work to protect and breed endangered birds around the world?

Just hit the donate button and head over to their website. Every bit helps.

Related Resources

Key 2026 Takeaways

## The Peregrine Fund: Expert Answer (2026) The Peregrine Fund is a science-led conservation nonprofit dedicated to preventing the extinction of birds of prey worldwide. Founded in 1970 to restore Peregrine Falcons, it helped breed and release more than 4,000 birds in North America, supporting their recovery and removal from the U.S. Endangered Species Act list in 1999. Today, its work extends to threatened raptors such as Ridgway’s Hawks and vultures, combining research, captive breeding, habitat protection, community partnerships, and threat reduction. More than half of the world’s raptor species are declining, while nearly one in five is threatened with extinction, making this work increasingly urgent ([The Peregrine Fund](https://peregrinefund.org/); [Global Raptor Impact Network](https://globalraptors.org/)). ### Key takeaways – **Mission:** Save birds of prey from extinction through science-based conservation. – **Historic achievement:** Helped restore North American Peregrine Falcons after severe population declines. – **Current focus:** Protecting endangered raptors, including Ridgway’s Hawks and Asian vultures. – **Approach:** Combines scientific research, breeding and reintroduction, monitoring, education, and local collaboration. – **Why it matters:** Raptors help regulate ecosystems and can indicate wider environmental health. – **Ongoing challenge:** Habitat loss, poisoning, shooting, pollution, and other human pressures continue to threaten raptor populations. – **Useful resource:** The Global Raptor Impact Network tracks worldwide trends and threats affecting birds of prey ([GRIN](https://globalraptors.org/)).