Wtf, I love falcons now

“Europas rovfåglar” by Gunnar Pettersson is Swedish book about raptors or birds of prey. Published in 1984, it includes the falcons alongside hawks, eagles, vultures and other Accipitriformes. Apparently, the falcons are no longer regarded as raptors in good standing, rather being a dramatic example of convergent evolution. Or so the nerd who writes on Wiki tells me. Until the pendulum swings back again, presumably… Sorting out these birds have long been a problem for biologists!

The book includes all European raptor species. The species presentations are rather short. The book is above all a work of art. And yes, the illustrations are made by Gunnar Pettersson himself. He, or perhaps the editor, seems more fascinated by some species than by others. Peregrine falcons, gyrfalcons and white-tailed eagles are prominently featured. So are some vultures. The author is “pro-raptor” and the concluding chapter attacks humanity as we know it for “persecuting” raptors. I didn´t know that birds of prey were themselves prey for humans just a few centuries ago. In Sweden, the common buzzard was verily food, and in southern Italy and Sicily, the locals feasted on sea eagles and the lammergeier! The author also writes about falconry – I find it fascinating that falcons can actually be trained or tamed.

But no, I´m not particularly raptor-friendly. If it´s between us and them, I´d say kill´em before they multiply (and eat´em). Perhaps I imbibed too much romantic shit about Nature as a kid from books like “Europas rovfåglar”, so this is the counter-reaction. Still, I like parrots and magpies, so the idea that falcons are more closely related to Psittaciformes and Passeriformes than to some ugly buzzard or vulture made me slightly more positive to the fate of the Peregrine…