U.S. to trap our falcons

by D’Arcy Jenish

North America’s peregrine falcons – specifically Falco peregrinus anatum, the most populous of the continent’s three peregrine subspecies – were in danger of disappearing in the mid to late 1970s. The culprit was DDT, which the magnificent raptors ingested through their prey. DDT blocked the transfer of calcium from the female to her eggs, and during incubation, females would inadvertently crush their thin-shelled, weak eggs. By the early 1980s, wildlife agencies north and south of the border had launched recovery programs that were so successful that in the United States the bird was downlisted from endangered to threatened in 1999, and Canada did likewise shortly after.

Now the falcons face a new threat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to allow falconers, who raise the birds for sporting purposes, to trap (and train) just over 100 young migratory peregrines annually that were bred and raised in Canada, a move that has sparked concern and anger among conservation organizations. “Until now, Canada and the U.S. have been cheered for running one of the most successful recovery programs on the planet,” says Mark Nash, executive director of the Toronto-based Canadian Peregrine Foundation. “Governments needed the falconry community’s expertise to help launch the programs, and now the falconers have pressured the U.S. government for the right to take some of the wild birds. It’s outrageous.”

Under the U.S. recovery program, wildlife agencies in several states managed to breed and release between 1,600 and 1,900 pairs of falcons during a period of nearly four decades, which were the offspring of birds obtained from around the world. The result, says Nash, was a dilution of the native gene pool.

The Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) set up a falcon breeding operation that used only native North American birds. CWS released between 3,000 and 4,000 individual birds over 30 years, Nash says, although only a small fraction of those survived to adulthood, as the mortality rate among young falcons can be as high as 80 to 90 percent.

According to Nash, the U.S. falconry groups want to trap migratory northern peregrines – those bred and released in Canada – because they have not been genetically contaminated, unlike those produced under the U.S. program. The groups are particularly interested in “passage peregrines.” These birds are one to three years old and can still be trained to hunt and return to their master. Unfortunately, those are the very birds that represent the future of this peregrine subspecies, because they can be expected to form breeding couples upon reaching adulthood.

Ontario population counts conducted by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) reveal 70 to 80 territories occupied by the falcons, mostly in forested areas along the north shore of Lake Superior and farther north. MNR contends that the falcons have reached their pre-DDT numbers, but Nash notes that the ministry counts have not uncovered how many of those territories are occupied by breeding pairs and that, despite the success of the recovery program, peregrine populations remain fragile.

In spite of the potential risks to the future of the peregrines, advocates in this country have yet to cobble together a coalition to oppose the trapping. Nash says the CWS is awaiting the release of a final report on the issue, but several wildlife agencies south of the border have made their opposition to the trapping of the birds known.