Fastest Birds in the World (2026)

The peregrine leads on Alerstam's 1987 radar study: the maximum of the 10-second intervals during stoops was 39 m/s, against an average stoop near 25 m/s. Guinness records experimental dives reported at perhaps up to 389 km/h, including Frightful with Ken Franklin in 1999, and an estimated terminal velocity near 320 km/h. Those sentences are on the peregrine page as a claim. They are not the rank. The same group's 2007 supplement puts level flapping flight for Falco peregrinus at a mean 12.1 m/s.

The other rows are published radar means, mostly from that 2007 supplement, plus the goshawk's approximate stoop and the golden eagle's glide mean of 18.07 m/s from Katzner and colleagues. Anecdotes that never appeared in those papers were left out. Checked 6 October 2026.