Kurt Burnham of the University of Oxford, UK and colleagues decided to carbon date the guano and other debris that birds leave at various nest sites around Greenland.
The cold dry climate of Greenland slows the decay of the falcons' droppings and various nest sites had built up levels of guano almost 2m deep.
The ancient guano samples also gave an indication of what the birds ate in times long past.
"These findings put new emphasis on just how important nest site characteristics can be for raptor species, particularly large raptors," Burnham says.
The cold dry climate of Greenland slows the decay of the falcons' droppings and various nest sites had built up levels of guano almost 2m deep.
The ancient guano samples also gave an indication of what the birds ate in times long past.
"These findings put new emphasis on just how important nest site characteristics can be for raptor species, particularly large raptors," Burnham says.
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