A falcon is a hunting bird. It kills and eats other animals — often smaller birds — and people have trained falcons to hunt for a very long time. Falcons have sharp wings and are famous for diving from high in the sky. Though actually, English speakers sometimes call any fierce hunting bird a falcon, but bird people keep falcons and hawks apart: they are cousins, not the same bird. The peregrine falcon is the one many students see in photos, even in cities. The word is ordinary in nature talk and also shows up in names and sports teams. There is an old verb to falcon, meaning to hunt with these birds, but you will almost never need it.