Record Prey, Strong Breeding, and a Signal Worth Watching in Arctic Gyrfalcon Country

On the tundra of Alaska's Seward Peninsula, this year brought welcome news for Gyrfalcons, along with one detail worth watching closely. For more than a decade, The Peregrine Fund's Gyrfalcon & Tundra Conservation Program has studied how a changing climate is affecting Gyrfalcons and other Arctic raptors.

Ptarmigan Numbers Hit an 11-Year High

Every spring, our team drives hundreds of miles across the tundra counting Willow Ptarmigan (pictured at left below) and Rock Ptarmigan (pictured at right below), the small grouse-like birds that make up the bulk of a Gyrfalcon's diet. This year's surveys turned up the highest ptarmigan numbers in eleven years of monitoring. Willow Ptarmigan counts in particular were more than double the previous record, set just last year, a strong sign that Gyrfalcons had plenty of food heading into the breeding season.

A Strong Season for Breeding Gyrfalcons

That abundance of food appears to have paid off. Using helicopter surveys conducted with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the team documented 45 breeding Gyrfalcon pairs this season, the second-highest count since 2016, and 74 nestlings, well above the long-term average. Golden Eagles also had a strong season, nesting in slightly higher numbers than usual and raising more young than average. Rough-legged Buzzards nested in typical numbers, though they raised a few fewer young than usual.

But one detail is giving researchers pause. Gyrfalcons usually do not breed until their third year of life. In 2025, the team documented five second-year birds attempting to breed, the biggest change in the population’s age structure that the program has ever seen. The same pattern repeated this year. One possible explanation is that adult Gyrfalcons are dying at higher rates, opening up nesting territories faster than usual and leaving room for younger, less experienced birds to move in before they're ready. It's a pattern the team will keep watching closely in the years ahead.

Part of a Larger Global Effort

This season's data also feeds into a bigger, global picture. Following a concerning population decline among Iceland's Gyrfalcons, a team of researchers from around the world has been working to support longtime Icelandic researcher Ólafur Nielsen in addressing the decline. In May, TPF Gyrfalcon & Tundra Conservation Program Manager Michael Henderson traveled to Iceland and met with Nielsen to talk through the biggest threats facing the species and how teams around the world can work together.

The program also contributed to a newly published international study on how a warming climate is affecting when and how well Gyrfalcons breed across the Arctic. Read more about that new publication here.

Closer to home, Boise State University master's student Sage Dale successfully defended her thesis this year comparing the genetics of Gyrfalcons and Peregrine Falcons, research she conducted in partnership with The Peregrine Fund. She found that Gyrfalcons have less genetic diversity than Peregrine Falcons in a group of genes that help the immune system detect and fight disease, a difference that could leave Gyrfalcons more vulnerable to certain illnesses. Sage will continue this work as she begins a PhD, digging deeper into the genetics and immune systems of Gyrfalcons around the world.

All of this research, from prey surveys to genetics, is building a fuller picture of how Gyrfalcons are faring in a changing Arctic. It's the kind of careful, long-term evidence The Peregrine Fund relies on to guide real conservation decisions, not just for Gyrfalcons, but for raptors everywhere.