Gyrfalcon
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Deut 14:13) - a bird of prey, described by the source as a kind of kite and named for its swift flight. The Mosaic ceremonial law counted it unclean. Such birds gather in numbers over battlefields and feed on carcasses, thereby helping to clear the air of harmful decay that might spread disease. Their exceptionally keen sight enables them to see prey at immense distances. Job says of the eagle, a bird of the same broad family, 'Her eyes behold afar off' (Job 39:29), and elsewhere, 'There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen' (Job 28:7).