# Gyrfalcon (*Falco rusticolus*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/gyrfalcon  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

The gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae, subfamily Falconinae, order Falconiformes. It is a medium-sized bird with a representative adult body mass of 1.4 kg, with reported values from 1.1 to 1.7 kg, and a wingspan of 58 cm, with reported values from 50 to 66 cm. The gyrfalcon is a migratory, aerial carnivore of grassland habitat with a geographic range of 8,809,000 km², and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category. It lays one clutch per year of 3.6 eggs on average, incubates the eggs for 35 days and reaches sexual maturity at 2 years.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 1.13 kg – 1.74 kg |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Wingspan | 50 cm – 66 cm |
| Lifespan | 12.9 years |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 13.5 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | grassland |
| Egg incubation | 35 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 3.61 |
| Age at maturity | 24 months |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1 |
| Lifestyle | Aerial |
| Migration | Migratory |
| Conservation status | Least Concern (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Falconiformes
- family: Falconidae
- genus: Falco
- species: *Falco rusticolus* Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms: *Falco albidus*, *Falco candicans*, *Falco gyrfalco*, *Falco gyrfalco groenlandicus*, *Falco gyrfalco norwegicus*, *Falco gyrfalxo*, *Falco holboelli*, *Falco islandicus*, *Falco islandus*, *Falco labradora*, *Falco rupestris*, *Falco rusticolus candicans*, *Falco rusticolus gyrfalco*, *Falco rusticolus islandus*, *Falco rusticolus obsoletus*, *Falco rusticolus rusticolus*, *Falco rusticolus uralensis*, *Falco rusticulus*, *Gyrfalco candicans*

## Common questions

### What kind of animal is the gyrfalcon?

The gyrfalcon is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae and the order Falconiformes. Other English names for it include Gyr, Gerfalcon, Jer falcon and Bird of Kings.

### How heavy is a gyrfalcon?

An adult Gyrfalcon has a representative body mass of 1.4 kg, with reported values from 1.1 to 1.7 kg.

### What is the wingspan of a gyrfalcon?

The gyrfalcon has a wingspan of 58 cm, with reported values from 50 to 66 cm.

### What does the gyrfalcon eat?

The gyrfalcon is a carnivore.

### What habitat does the gyrfalcon live in?

The gyrfalcon lives in grassland habitat and is a migratory bird.

### Is the gyrfalcon endangered?

No. The IUCN lists the gyrfalcon as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.

### How long does a gyrfalcon live?

The gyrfalcon has a lifespan of 12.9 years, with values up to 13.5 years reported.

### Who named the gyrfalcon?

The gyrfalcon was named Falco rusticolus by Linnaeus, 1758.

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), CC0 1.0, E096-269. Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
- [AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7), CC BY 4.0, v7. Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
- [Catalogue of Life eXtended Release](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), CC BY 4.0, 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
- [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org), per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed), 2026-11-11. Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), CC BY-SA 4.0, 2026-11-11. Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

Cite as: Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/gyrfalcon