Raptor conservation concerns are threats affecting the population viability of birds of prey. Because of their hunting lifestyle, raptors face distinct conservation challenges. As top predators, they are important for healthy ecosystem functioning, and by protecting them many other species are safeguarded. Their extensive habitat requirements make regional conservation strategies necessary for protecting birds of prey.
Because they are opportunistic carnivores, birds of prey are at high risk of secondary poisoning by eating organisms that have been killed or debilitated by pesticides. Raptors may be poisoned by legal, labeled use of pesticides or by illegal use. Cases can be identified as abuse if the chemical responsible is prohibited by law or not in use in the affected area. For example, in North America, Golden eagle poisonings are commonly found to be pesticide abuse cases traced to tainted sheep carcasses used to bait and kill coyotes. Common instances of labeled use are consumption of insects or worms that have been sprayed, and ingesting pesticide granules or treated seeds as food. In 1995 three thousand Swainson's hawks were killed in Argentina after they ate insects that had been sprayed. [1]
While most developed nations have adopted standards that reduce usage of chemicals with extended environmental persistence, the pesticides are still powerful and dangerous immediately after application. The United Kingdom owes its small proportion of labeled-use deaths to less toxic pesticides, whereas the United States has near equal amounts of labeled-use to illegal use fatalities. Use of non-granular and untreated seeds would reduce pesticide concentration and accessibility as a food source. [1]
Birds of prey may eat dead or injured prey killed with lead shot or fishing sinkers. Most lead poisonings result from consumption of unretrieved game birds, in addition to downed pests and other game animals. The effects of lead poisoning can include ballooning of the proventriculus, weight loss, anemia, and a drooping posture. Overall lead poisoning increases a bird's risk of predation and the occurrence of starvation and disease, which reduces fitness and reproductive success. [2]
Lead is a persistent environmental contaminant, and as suitable habitat patches diminish, both the concentration of organisms and hunting space increases. Restricting use of lead, especially in wetlands, and switching to non-toxic shot can reduce lead contamination. [2]
There are over 185 million power line poles in the United States, each posing some risk of electrocution. Bird electrocutions are the result of three factors: biology, environment, and engineering. [3] The issue is largely focused on raptors because their size, hunting behaviors, and nesting preferences make them particularly susceptible. Biological and environmental factors that are found to influence risk of electrocution are body size, age, behavior, prey type, habitat, season, and weather. Long-term research has revealed that the issue is not limited to raptors and that the interactions of other species with power poles - specifically those related to perching, roosting, and loafing - can result in power outages and electrocutions. Electrocutions have been reported in more than 30 non-raptor North American species, including ravens and crows, storks, herons, pelicans, gulls, magpies, and jays. Species living in areas devoid of natural perches are also more vulnerable to electrocution as they rely on high points in the environment to hunt from and advertise territory and their choices are often limited to power poles. Additionally, poles atop ridges are especially appealing for raptors, as they afford a wide field of view of the surrounding environment. Placement of poles in prime habitat or along migration routes has caused higher mortality, and rates increase late in the summer during fledging when young, inexperienced birds proliferate. Bathing behavior at times of rain or snow makes birds more conductive to electricity, and orientation of pole cross arms with regard to prevailing winds can increase risk of contact with electrical components depending on ease of take-off and landing. [4]
Over half of North American and a majority of European raptor species have been affected by electrocution. European utility equipment is made of steel, increasing conductivity of the whole structure. While electrocution doesn't threaten the viability of most raptor populations, the whole of human impacts can, so it is sensible to reduce known causes of mortality in any way possible. Burying cables, installing perch deterrents, and attentive placement of poles are ways to reduce risk of death by electrocution. [4]
Because they hunt on the wing and have wind-specific flight behaviors, raptors are at risk of death from collisions with wind turbines. Red-tailed hawks at the controversial Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area are especially susceptible. The hawks usually hunt from perches but during high winds they hunt while soaring or kiting in place. Soaring on thermals brings them to the same elevation as turbine blades, while at higher winds kiting on slope updrafts can keep birds hovering in place next to a turbine in gusty winds. [5]
Raptors and turbines converge in windy areas, and a balance must be found between wildlife conservation and clean energy. Planning wind farms away from prime habitat, turning off turbines at peak raptor presence and dismantling specific high-risk turbines can prevent raptor deaths. [5]
The black-shouldered kite, also known as the Australian black-shouldered kite, is a small raptor found in open habitats throughout Australia. It resembles similar species found in Africa, Eurasia and North America, including the black-winged kite, a species that has in the past also been called "black-shouldered kite". Measuring around 35 cm (14 in) in length, with a wingspan of 80–100 cm (31–39 in), the adult black-shouldered kite has predominantly grey-white plumage and prominent black markings above its red eyes. It gains its name from the black patches on its wings. The primary call is a clear whistle, uttered in flight and while hovering. It can be confused with the related letter-winged kite in Australia, which is distinguished by the striking black markings under its wings.
The rough-legged buzzard (Europe) or rough-legged hawk is a medium-large bird of prey. It is found in Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America, Europe, and Russia during the breeding season and migrates south for the winter. It was traditionally also known as the rough-legged falcon in such works as John James Audubon's The Birds of America.
Cooper's hawk is a medium-sized hawk native to the North American continent and found from southern Canada to Mexico. This species is a member of the genus Accipiter, sometimes referred to as true hawks, which are famously agile, relatively small hawks common to wooded habitats around the world and also the most diverse of all diurnal raptor genera. As in many birds of prey, the male is smaller than the female. The birds found east of the Mississippi River tend to be larger on average than the birds found to the west. It is easily confused with the smaller but similar sharp-shinned hawk.
The American kestrel, also called the sparrow hawk, is the smallest and most common falcon in North America. It has a roughly two-to-one range in size over subspecies and sex, varying in size from about the weight of a blue jay to a mourning dove. It also ranges to South America and is a well-established species that has evolved into 17 subspecies adapted to different environments and habitats throughout the Americas. It exhibits sexual dimorphism in size and plumage, although both sexes have a rufous back with noticeable barring. Its plumage is colorful and attractive, and juveniles are similar in plumage to adults.
The red-tailed hawk is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members within the genus of Buteo in North America or worldwide. The red-tailed hawk is one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk", though it rarely preys on standard-sized chickens. The bird is sometimes also referred to as the red-tail for short, when the meaning is clear in context. Red-tailed hawks can acclimate to all the biomes within their range, occurring on the edges of non-ideal habitats such as dense forests and sandy deserts. The red-tailed hawk occupies a wide range of habitats and altitudes, including deserts, grasslands, coniferous and deciduous forests, agricultural fields, and urban areas. Its latitudinal limits fall around the tree line in the subarctic and it is absent from the high Arctic. Generally it favors varied habitats with open woodland, woodland edge and open terrain. It is legally protected in Canada, Mexico, and the United States by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
The ferruginous hawk is a large bird of prey and belongs to the broad-winged buteo hawks. An old colloquial name is ferrugineous rough-leg, due to its similarity to the closely related rough-legged hawk.
The lizard buzzard, or lizard hawk, is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is native to Sub-Saharan Africa. Despite its name, it may be more closely related to the Accipiter hawks than the Buteo buzzards.
Bonelli's eagle is a large bird of prey. The common name of the bird commemorates the Italian ornithologist and collector Franco Andrea Bonelli. Bonelli is credited with gathering the type specimen, most likely from an exploration of Sardinia. Some antiquated texts also refer to this species as the crestless hawk-eagle. Like all eagles, Bonelli's eagle belongs to the family Accipitridae. Its feathered legs marked it as member of the Aquilinae or booted eagle subfamily. This species breeds from Southern Europe, Africa on the montane perimeter of the Sahara Desert and across the Indian Subcontinent to Indonesia. In Eurasia, this species may be found as far west as Portugal and as far east as southeastern China and Thailand. It is usually a resident breeder. Bonelli's eagle is often found in hilly or mountainous habitats, with rocky walls or crags, from sea level to 1,500 m (4,900 ft). Habitats are often open to wooded land and can occur in arid to semi-moist climate. This eagle, though it can be considered partially opportunistic, is something of a specialist predator of certain birds and mammals, especially rabbits, galliforms and pigeons. On evidence, when staple prey populations decline or are locally scarce, Bonelli's eagle switch to being an opportunistic predator of a wide variety of birds. Despite its persistence over a large range and its continued classification as a least concern species by the IUCN, Bonelli's eagle has declined precipitously in various parts of its range, including almost all of its European distribution, and may face potential local extinction. The species' declines are due to widespread habitat destruction, electrocution from electricity pylons as well as persistent persecution.
The lanner falcon is a medium-sized bird of prey that breeds in Africa, southeast Europe and just into Asia. It prefers open habitat and is mainly resident, but some birds disperse more widely after the breeding season. A large falcon, it preys on birds and bats. Most likely either the lanner or peregrine falcon was the sacred species of falcon to the ancient Egyptians, and some ancient Egyptian deities, like Ra and Horus, were often represented as a man with the head of a lanner falcon.
The ornate hawk-eagle is a fairly large bird of prey from the tropical Americas. Formerly, some authorities referred to this species as the crested hawk-eagle, a name that may cause some confusion as it is more commonly used for an Asian eagle species. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae. This species has a feathered tarsus that marks it as a member of the Aquilinae or booted eagle subfamily. This species is notable for the vivid colors and bold markings of adults, which differ considerably from the far more whitish plumage of the juvenile bird. The ornate hawk-eagle ranges from central Mexico south through much of Central America and in a somewhat spotty but broad overall range into South America, including in the west apart from the Andes and broadly on the Atlantic side especially Brazil down to as far as Southeast Brazil and northern Argentina. This species is found largely in primary forests with tall trees, although can be found in many forest types.
Raptor rehabilitation is a field of veterinary medicine dealing with care for sick or injured birds of prey, with the goal of returning them to the wild. Since raptors are highly specialized predatory birds, special skills, facilities, equipment, veterinary practices and husbandry methods are necessary.
The Taita falcon is a small falcon found in central and eastern Africa. It was first described from the Taita Hills of Kenya from which it derives its name.
The Chaco eagle or crowned solitary eagle, is an endangered bird of prey from eastern and central South America. Typically it is known simply as the crowned eagle which leads to potential confusion with the African Stephanoaetus coronatus. Due to its rarity, not much is known about its biology or population.
The jackal buzzard is a fairly large African bird of prey. The taxonomy of this species has caused some confusion in the past and it almost certainly belongs in a species complex with other African Buteo species. Some taxonomists have considered this species, the Archer's buzzard, and the augur buzzard to be the same superspecies. Many taxonomists consider them all to be distinct, having different calls, different home ranges and variations in plumage. This is a species that lives among mountains, and on adjacent savanna and grassland. It is resident and non-migratory throughout its range.
Migrating birds face many perils as they travel between breeding and wintering grounds each year.
The Eurasian goshawk is a species of medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, a family which also includes other extant diurnal raptors, such as eagles, buzzards and harriers. As a species in the genus Accipiter, the goshawk is often considered a "true hawk". The scientific name is Latin; Accipiter is "hawk", from accipere, "to grasp", and gentilis is "noble" or "gentle" because in the Middle Ages only the nobility were permitted to fly goshawks for falconry.
The red-shouldered hawk is a medium-sized buteo. Its breeding range spans eastern North America and along the coast of California and northern to northeastern-central Mexico. It is a permanent resident throughout most of its range, though northern birds do migrate, mostly to central Mexico. The main conservation threat to the widespread species is deforestation.
Swainson's hawk is a large bird species in the Accipitriformes order. This species was named after William Swainson, a British naturalist. It is colloquially known as the grasshopper hawk or locust hawk, as it is very fond of Acrididae and will voraciously eat these insects whenever they are available.
The Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia is an international, legally non-binding agreement to protect migratory birds of prey.
At one time, the golden eagle lived in a great majority of temperate Europe, North Asia, North America, North Africa, and Japan. Although widespread and quite secure in some areas, in many parts of the range golden eagles have experienced sharp population declines and have even been extirpated from some areas. The total number of individual golden eagles from around the range is estimated to range somewhere between 170,000 and 250,000 while the estimated total number of breeding pairs ranges from 60,000 to 100,000. Few other eagle species are as numerous, though some species like tawny eagle, wedge-tailed eagle and bald eagle have total estimated populations of a similar size to the golden eagle's despite having distributions which are more restricted. The world's most populous eagle may be the African fish eagle, which has a stable total population estimated at 300,000 individuals and is found solely in Africa. On a global scale, the golden eagle is not considered threatened by the IUCN.
