Fastest Birds by Top Speed
The fastest birds by maximum recorded speed, in km/h. The peregrine falcon reaches 389 km/h - the fastest speed of any animal - but only in its hunting dive, or 'stoop'; the other birds' figures are for powered flapping or level flight.
About This Dataset
Fastest Birds by Top SpeedThe peregrine falcon (389 km/h) is not just the fastest bird but the fastest animal on Earth - yet this speed is achieved only in a vertical hunting dive, where gravity does much of the work. That distinction explains the huge gap to the next bird, the gyrfalcon (209 km/h), also a diver. Below them the list shifts to genuine powered flight, where the white-throated needletail (169 km/h) is often cited as the fastest in level flapping flight, ahead of the Eurasian hobby (160), frigatebird (153) and even the humble rock dove or pigeon (149). The pattern highlights two different kinds of speed: the falcons' record-breaking gravity-assisted stoops versus the sustained muscular flight of swifts and pigeons.
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Fastest Birds by Top Speed
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