About Falcons
12 Peregrine Falcons in Popular Culture
Lauren Weiss
Movies and Television
Star Wars
Perhaps one of the most famous falcons in popular culture is the Millennium Falcon, the ship in Star Wars piloted by Han Solo and Chewbacca. The ship is well-known for making the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, which is understandable, considering that peregrine falcons are the fastest animals on Earth!
Marvel
Before becoming the new Captain America, Sam Wilson, Air Force veteran, is known as the Falcon. He fights with his fellow Avengers using a special flying suit with wings. He also has a remote control drone called “Redwing” that resembles a bird.
Power Rangers
In Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, Tommy Oliver, perhaps the most famous Power Ranger, gains the power of the Falconzord in Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie to battle Ivan Ooze, and later, in Season 3 of the television show. As a leader of the team, it makes sense that Tommy’s Zord is the powerful falcon! At one point, the evil Lord Zedd captures the Falconzord and turns it into an actual falcon that he keeps in a cage in his lair until Tommy and the Rangers rescue it.
Pokémon
There are a couple of Pokémon based on falcons. Talonflame (Fletchling -> Fletchinder -> Talonflame) is actually mostly based on the peregrine falcon, plus some details from other birds of prey like kites, goshawks, and bazas. Also, although Starly is mostly based on the white-cheeked starling common in Asia, its final evolution, Staraptor (Starly -> Staravia -> Staraptor), has “raptor” in its name and has details based on hawks, falcons, harpy eagles, and long-crested eagles.
Angry Birds
In Angry Birds 2, Silver is a peregrine falcon and Chuck’s younger twin sister. She looks more like a peregrine than he does, but according to Nickelodeon, the super speed of Chuck is modeled after the peregrine falcon because of its ability to fly and dive incredibly fast.
Wild Kratts
Chris and Martin Kratt discover the amazing creature powers of the peregrine falcon in the episode, “Falcon City,” where they have to protect an urban falcon nest and chick from Zach’s building-cleaning robots.
Literature
The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon (1930) is a book by Dashiell Hammett about a detective named Sam Spade who becomes involved in a plot to locate an extremely rare and expensive statue of a peregrine falcon. This book was adapted into the famous Humphrey Bogart movie from 1941 that has been named one of the top 100 films in history.
My Side of the Mountain
My Side of the Mountain (1959) is a young adult book by Jean Craighead George about a boy named Sam Gribley who attempts to live on his own in the Catskill Mountains. At one point, he decides to get a falcon to help him hunt for food. He takes a peregrine falcon chick from a nest, names it Frightful, and trains it. Interesting fact: does the author’s name sound familiar? It should. The Craighead family was famous for studying nature. Jean’s brothers, Frank Jr. and John, were responsible for the article in the National Geographic magazine that made Tom Cade decide to take up falconry and save the peregrine!
Sports
Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons are a football team from Atlanta, Georgia, in the National Football League. They were given their name on August 29, 1965 after a naming contest. Many people suggested “Falcons,” but it was Miss Julia Elliott, a Griffin, GA school teacher, whose response was singled out: “the Falcon is proud and dignified, with great courage and fight. It never drops its prey. It is deadly and has a great sporting tradition.”
Freddie and Frieda Falcon
Freddie and Frieda Falcon are the peregrine falcon mascots of Bowling Green State University.
Miscellaneous
Ford Falcon
The Ford Falcon is a car that was produced by Ford between 1960-1970 as a scaled-down version of the Ford Galaxie. It was the best-selling compact car at that time. Interestingly, commercials advertising it featured Charles Schultz’s “Peanuts” characters.