Rare Falcon on Aurora Borealis Webcam [WATCH]

A webcam in Churchill, Manitoba designed to pick up aurora borealis footage has been photo-bombed several times over the past couple of months by a rare type of falcon, the gyrfalcon. During the Middle Ages, only a king could hunt with one of these birds, according to the website for the conservation group The Peregrine Fund.

That said, the bird in this case has no pretensions to the throne - it is snow-white and a real ham, peering curiously into the camera many times. Gyrfalcons, or Falco rusticolus, are the largest falcons, weighing 2-4 ½ pounds and with wingspans of 4 to 4 ½ feet, according to the Cornell Lab for Birds website. They can range in color from white to gray to black, and breed in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of the northern hemisphere.

The bird is seen on the webcam for the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, a research center located 23 km east of the Hudson Bay town of Churchill, Manitoba. The area is known for its polar bears.

Gyrfalcons are generally considered top predators, threatened only by humans. Their primary prey are ptarmigans. The falcons can thrive in very tough, cold conditions and often begin laying eggs in below-freezing weather.

Their nests are often found on cliff edges, like the one pictured here, from The Peregrine Fund