Harvesting Falcons

[Donna]

HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS - State wildlife managers gave preliminary approval Wednesday to allowing falconers to capture a legendary bird, known as the world's fastest animal, that has survived a brush with extinction: the peregrine falcon.

Despite opposition from environmental groups, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission directed its staff to set fee and license requirements for final approval in December.

The potential number of captured falcons — as many as five in Florida — is a fraction of the thousands that migrate to the state from as far away as Alaska, Canada and Greenland. But the issue touches on the emotional tension that can arise when a high-profile wild creature is allowed to be taken into captivity — and when humans begin "harvesting" a species that had been the focus of an intense and decades-long recovery effort.

Eric Edwards of the Florida Falconry Association said falconers were instrumental in the peregrine's recovery because they placed captive-bred falcons in the wild. Now, with the bird considered safe from extinction, falconers hope to resume a sport that goes back thousands of years.

Edwards noted that when a falconer releases a falcon for a hunt, the raptor climbs hundreds of feet, appearing as no more than a speck.

"If the bird isn't happy, the bird isn't coming back," he said.

Linda Bystrak of the Oklawaha Valley Audubon Society countered that falconers weren't alone in helping the bird recover in the wild.

"Hundreds of volunteers, including myself, have spent time and money putting out nesting platforms for these birds, monitoring them and even rehabilitating them ... only to have them harvested for enjoyment of a few falconers," Bystrak said.

By the late 1960s, falcons were in serious trouble, falling victim to the pesticides DDT and Dieldrin, which caused thinning of their eggshells. Banning the chemicals was key to the birds' recovery.

Federal authorities have granted authority in roughly the eastern half of the nation to allow the annual taking of 36 falcons. This fall, falconers in nine states from Texas to Maryland will capture birds. The soonest Florida could take part is next fall. Under the rules, only juvenile birds — hatched in May or June — can be captured. Falconers often use nets and a pigeon as a lure.

Brian Millsap, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service deputy regional director, said the falcon population is healthy and continues to grow.
"We calculate that right now, today, we could probably allow a harvest of up to 17 percent of all the peregrines," Millsap said. "The harvest levels that we've proposed are actually only about 2 to 3 percent. The numbers being removed are so small you couldn't measure any impact."

Falconers want wild birds because they are more athletic and more skilled at hunting than falcons born in captivity.

They fly to great heights, where they fold themselves into free-falling missiles that can reach speeds of 200 mph or more.

Jennifer Hobgood, Florida director for the Humane Society of the United States, said her group strongly opposes taking falcons from the wild because the practice inflicts "stress and cruelty" on the birds "for no more reason than entertainment."

A key issue left unresolved Wednesday was the status of falcon monitoring at Curry Hammock State Park in the Florida Keys. Bird counts started there in 1999 and continued until last year, when funds — $25,000 annually — ran out.

Julie Wraithmell, Audubon of Florida wildlife policy coordinator, urged the state wildlife agency to restart the monitoring because of the many challenges falcons face, including pollution, habitat loss and, now, harvesting by humans.

She recommended that at least some of the cost be covered by a fee for falcon harvesting — an idea that the falconers rejected.

[Donna]

 

 ScienceNOW Daily News
9 September 2009
Talk about a common tongue. Even though two species of South American antbirds have been evolving independently for more than 3 million years, they sing nearly identical territorial songs. "It's almost the equivalent of humans and chimpanzees using the same language to settle disputes over resources," says Joseph Tobias, an ornithologist at the University of Oxford in the U.K. But rather than causing confusion, the identical songs actually serve a valuable purpose.

One wouldn't expect the two antbirds to have much in common. Although they both live in the southwestern Amazon, one species, the yellow-breasted antbird (Hypocnemis subflava), prefers bamboo patches whereas the other, the Peruvian antbird (H. peruviana), likes tall and dense forests. The birds also look different: H. subflava males sport yellow chests and buff-colored flanks, for example, whereas the males of H. peruviana have white chests and reddish-brown flanks. Yet the songs the males of each species use to defend their turf are indistinguishable to people: In previous studies, researchers showed that neither human ears listening to the songs nor human eyes studying spectrograms of the songs could identify any notable differences. (Hear both songs back-to-back here.)

But do the songs sound the same to the birds themselves? To find out, Tobias and Oxford ornithologist Nathalie Seddon recorded 504 songs from 150 birds of both species. They also recorded the territorial songs of other closely related antbird species. The duo then played the recordings to individuals from both species and sat back to watch.

Males reacted the same way to songs from either H. subflava or H. peruviana. At the first note from a rival, the territory holders rushed in, "ready for a fight," says Tobias. "They weren't scared and were very aggressive." But the same males barely acknowledged the territorial tunes of other antbird species, even those more closely related to themselves.

Tobias says the two birds probably evolved the same territorial songs because their preferred habitats often overlap, such as in mixed areas of forest and bamboo. Because the males in these two species are competing for the same real estate with males of their own kind as well as with males from the neighboring species, they simply use the same song to deter both. "It's more efficient," says Tobias. "You would never find such convergence in mating songs," he adds, because male birds of unrelated species aren't competing for females. The team reports its findings in the current issue of Evolution.

The study offers a "convincing case" of convergent evolution, says Darren Irwin, an evolutionary biologist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, although in this instance, he says, species are becoming more alike despite the fact that they are fighting over the same resources. This kind of convergence, though rare and controversial, "likely occurs more often than commonly thought," he says. Adds J. Albert Uy, an ornithologist at Syracuse University in New York, "The study should revive interest" in this more unusual evolutionary force.

[Donna]

HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS - State wildlife managers gave preliminary approval Wednesday to allowing falconers to capture a legendary bird, known as the world's fastest animal, that has survived a brush with extinction: the peregrine falcon.

Despite opposition from environmental groups, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission directed its staff to set fee and license requirements for final approval in December.

The potential number of captured falcons — as many as five in Florida — is a fraction of the thousands that migrate to the state from as far away as Alaska, Canada and Greenland. But the issue touches on the emotional tension that can arise when a high-profile wild creature is allowed to be taken into captivity — and when humans begin "harvesting" a species that had been the focus of an intense and decades-long recovery effort.

Eric Edwards of the Florida Falconry Association said falconers were instrumental in the peregrine's recovery because they placed captive-bred falcons in the wild. Now, with the bird considered safe from extinction, falconers hope to resume a sport that goes back thousands of years.

Edwards noted that when a falconer releases a falcon for a hunt, the raptor climbs hundreds of feet, appearing as no more than a speck.

"If the bird isn't happy, the bird isn't coming back," he said.

Linda Bystrak of the Oklawaha Valley Audubon Society countered that falconers weren't alone in helping the bird recover in the wild.

"Hundreds of volunteers, including myself, have spent time and money putting out nesting platforms for these birds, monitoring them and even rehabilitating them ... only to have them harvested for enjoyment of a few falconers," Bystrak said.

By the late 1960s, falcons were in serious trouble, falling victim to the pesticides DDT and Dieldrin, which caused thinning of their eggshells. Banning the chemicals was key to the birds' recovery.

Federal authorities have granted authority in roughly the eastern half of the nation to allow the annual taking of 36 falcons. This fall, falconers in nine states from Texas to Maryland will capture birds. The soonest Florida could take part is next fall. Under the rules, only juvenile birds — hatched in May or June — can be captured. Falconers often use nets and a pigeon as a lure.

Brian Millsap, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service deputy regional director, said the falcon population is healthy and continues to grow.
"We calculate that right now, today, we could probably allow a harvest of up to 17 percent of all the peregrines," Millsap said. "The harvest levels that we've proposed are actually only about 2 to 3 percent. The numbers being removed are so small you couldn't measure any impact."

Falconers want wild birds because they are more athletic and more skilled at hunting than falcons born in captivity.

They fly to great heights, where they fold themselves into free-falling missiles that can reach speeds of 200 mph or more.

Jennifer Hobgood, Florida director for the Humane Society of the United States, said her group strongly opposes taking falcons from the wild because the practice inflicts "stress and cruelty" on the birds "for no more reason than entertainment."

A key issue left unresolved Wednesday was the status of falcon monitoring at Curry Hammock State Park in the Florida Keys. Bird counts started there in 1999 and continued until last year, when funds — $25,000 annually — ran out.

Julie Wraithmell, Audubon of Florida wildlife policy coordinator, urged the state wildlife agency to restart the monitoring because of the many challenges falcons face, including pollution, habitat loss and, now, harvesting by humans.

She recommended that at least some of the cost be covered by a fee for falcon harvesting — an idea that the falconers rejected.

Falconry draft rule approved

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission took another step closer to allow the taking of peregrine falcons for the sport of falconry.

The peregrine is a prized bird by falconers. It can dive at more than 200 mph and has been hunted for more than 1,000 years. The peregrine was removed from the endangered species list in 1999.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued 36 peregrine falcon permits for the eastern states. Florida will receive a few of these, likely five or fewer. Permits would be randomly selected.

[Bird Crazy]