After last week’s foray into the subject of coverts I’m happy to shift gears and talk about peregrines again.

Today’s anatomy lesson is a feature that often distinguishes falcons from other birds.  Many falcons, especially peregrines, have an obvious malar stripe. 

Malar means cheekbone so the malar stripe is a stripe on the bird’s cheek.  I’ve illustrated it here with a red arrow pointing to Dorothy’s malar stripe.

Easy.  Much easier than coverts.

(photo of Dorothy, the female peregrine falcon at the University of Pittsburgh by Pat Szczepanski, altered to indicate the malar stripe.)

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