The Peregrine Fund

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The Peregrine Fund (named after the bird of prey of the same name the peregrine falcon) is a non-profit organization founded in 1970 that conserves threatened and endangered birds of prey worldwide. The successful recovery of the peregrine falcon in the United States, which was removed from the U.S. Endangered Species List in 1999, [1] enabled the organization to expand its mission to include other endangered raptors around the world. The Peregrine Fund is headquartered at its World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho, on a 580-acre (2.3 km2) campus with breeding and research facilities, an administrative office, interpretive center, research library, and archives.

Contents

Mission

The Peregrine Fund's mission is to restore rare species through captive breeding and release, improve capacity for local conservation, conduct scientific research and environmental education, and conserve habitat. [2] It currently is involved in recovery of the California condor and Aplomado Falcon, and research on American Kestrels and Gyrfalcons in the United States and a variety of raptors in Central America, South America, West Indies, Madagascar, Asia, East Africa, Australia, and the Philippines. [3] Conservation efforts have been extended to more than 100 species in 70 countries.

Approach

The Peregrine Fund is a non-political, science-based, project-driven conservation organization. It works in partnership with local conservation groups and local, state and national governments on its recovery projects. It also partners with students by supporting their education in raptor biology and other scientific fields and has trained, mentored, and supported over 100 students to increase local capacity for conservation science. [4] The organization receives funds from foundation and government grants, memberships and individual donations for bird recovery programs. An endowment fund pays administrative and development costs. As a result, 96 percent of donations go directly to programs. [5] The organization has 33-member, multi-national board of directors representing business, science and conservation.

History

At the first Peregrine Conference in 1965, biologists concluded that the peregrine falcon was in serious decline around the world. Concerned enthusiasts in the sport of falconry believed that breeding falcons in captivity would be a way to keep the species alive if the wild birds became extinct. After a second meeting at Cornell University in 1969, the governments of the United States, Canada, and Mexico were asked to protect the remaining populations of peregrine falcons. The U.S. Department of Interior listed the falcon as endangered in 1970. The pesticide DDT, which caused the birds' eggshells to become thin and break, [6] was banned for domestic use in the United States in 1972. The falcon remained on the list of endangered species when the Endangered Species Act was adopted by Congress in 1973.

Ornithology professor Tom Cade founded The Peregrine Fund at Cornell University in 1970 to breed the falcons in captivity and release them to the wild. In 1974 a second breeding operation was begun in Fort Collins, Colorado, managed by Bill Burnham, who went on to become president of The Peregrine Fund for 23 years. Both operations relocated to Boise, Idaho after the World Center for Birds of Prey was established in 1984. The Peregrine Fund bred and released more than 4,000 falcons from 1974 to 1997. [7] In 1985, The Peregrine Fund held an international conference on the 20th anniversary of the first Peregrine Conference to celebrate the survival and growing recovery of the falcon population and to assess its global status.

Since 1970, The Peregrine Fund has hatched and raised 20 species of rare birds and pioneered propagation and releasing techniques for numerous species. Species systematically released to the wild to develop techniques or restore wild populations include the Aplomado falcon, bald eagle, bat falcon, California condor, harpy eagle, Madagascar fish eagle, Mauritius kestrel, orange-breasted falcon, and prairie falcon. Overall, the organization has monitored, surveyed and worked with more than 100 raptor species in the wild around the world.

U.S. programs

The Peregrine Fund currently has two recovery projects in the United States: The Aplomado falcon in Texas and the California condor in northern Arizona. Aplomado falcons were once widespread in the American Southwest but habitat changes, pesticides and human persecution restricted their range to a few areas in Mexico by the 1950s. The Peregrine Fund began breeding the falcons and releasing them in Texas in 1993. With a substantial population of falcons established in South Texas, the focus then shifted to West Texas. In 2002 Aplomado falcons were released on several private ranches and in 2007, biologists observed the fledging of wild falcons in West Texas for the first time in more than 70 years.

California condors were close to extinction in the 1980s when an effort began to capture the last birds in existence, numbering 22 in 1981. Condor pairs have produced more than 100 offspring at the Boise breeding facility. By 1996 there were enough young condors to begin establishing a recovery effort in Arizona (one was already under way in California). The goal of the recovery plan is to establish two geographically separate populations, each with at least 150 condors and 15 breeding pairs. When chicks are ready to fledge, they are transported from the breeding facility in Idaho to the release site in Arizona. These condors produced their first wild offspring by 2003. Future success of the program is jeopardized by lead poisoning from carcasses and gut piles left in the field by shooters using lead ammunition, which fragment into hundreds of tiny pieces upon impact. The Peregrine Fund currently is researching the amount of lead contained in hunter-killed game animals.

International programs

The Neotropical Raptor Conservation Program is part of The Peregrine Fund's international projects. Raptor projects include the harpy eagle and orange-breasted falcon. Since 1998, more than 40 harpy eagles have been hatched in captivity and released to the wild in Panama and Belize. In 2007, rare orange-breasted falcons bred in captivity were released for the first time to the wild in their traditional territory in Belize. The organization has worked with more than 35 raptor species in the wild in this part of the world.

The West Indies Project focuses on raptors found only on the Caribbean Islands. Current research and conservation efforts are directed at the critically endangered Ridgway's hawk in the Dominican Republic, the Puerto Rican Sharp-shinned Hawk, the Grenada hook-billed kite confined to the island of Grenada, and the Cuban kite, endemic to Cuba and among the rarest species of raptor in the world.

The Pan Africa Raptor Conservation Program is designed to help stem the loss of biodiversity in Africa. Many species threatened by habitat loss have been surveyed, including the Cape vulture and Taita falcon in southern Africa and the African fish eagle, augur buzzard, Sokoke scops owl, Pemba scops owl, Ruppell's vulture, African white-backed vulture, and crowned eagle in several nations in East Africa. The Peregrine Fund has biologists and field workers in Madagascar, an island off the east coast of Africa with vast biological diversity. In 2006, they re-discovered the Madagascar pochard, a diving duck thought to be extinct, while searching for Malagasy harriers. The Peregrine Fund also re-discovered the Madagascar serpent eagle and red owl in 1993, both long thought to be extinct, and helped create Madagascar's largest rainforest reserve in 1997. In 2015, the Fund's Malagasy biologists successfully protected three new areas, totally more than 190,000 hectares, that have been added to the country's national park system and will be managed by and for local people to benefit many endangered species.

The Asia Pacific Raptor Conservation Program focuses on raptors on islands between Southeast Asia and Australia. The Peregrine Fund provides student support, training and guidance in the study of the breeding behavior and ecology of the New Guinea harpy eagle. The organization also assists the Philippine Eagle Foundation to conserve and study the eagle and other raptors on islands that make up the Republic of the Philippines.

The Asian Vulture Crisis Project addresses declining vulture populations on the Indian subcontinent. Over the last decade, populations of at least three species, the Oriental white-backed, long-billed, and slender-billed vultures, have become critically endangered. Peregrine Fund research published in the journal Nature determined that poisoning from the residues of diclofenac in the carcasses of livestock that had been treated with the drug for veterinary purposes was responsible for the catastrophic die-off. India, Pakistan, and Nepal banned the drug in 2006.

Related Research Articles

Bird of prey Any species of bird that primarily hunt and feed on relatively large vertebrates

Birds of prey, also known as raptors, include species of bird that primarily hunt and feed on vertebrates that are large relative to the hunter. Additionally, they have keen eyesight for detecting food at a distance or during flight, strong feet equipped with talons for grasping or killing prey, and powerful, curved beaks for tearing flesh. The term raptor is derived from the Latin word rapio, meaning to seize or take by force. In addition to hunting live prey, many birds, such as fish eagles, vultures, and condors, eat carrion.

Philippine eagle Endangered species of eagle in the Philippines

The Philippine eagle, also known as the monkey-eating eagle or great Philippine eagle, is a critically endangered species of eagle of the family Accipitridae which is endemic to forests in the Philippines. It has brown and white-colored plumage, a shaggy crest, and generally measures 86 to 102 cm in length and weighs 4.04 to 8.0 kg.

Peregrine falcon Cosmopolitan species of falcon raptor

The peregrine falcon, also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-grey back, barred white underparts, and a black head. The peregrine is renowned for its speed, reaching over 320 km/h (200 mph) during its characteristic hunting stoop, making it the fastest bird in the world, as well as the fastest member of the animal kingdom. According to a National Geographic TV program, the highest measured speed of a peregrine falcon is 389 km/h (242 mph). As is typical for bird-eating raptors, peregrine falcons are sexually dimorphic, with females being considerably larger than males.

Falconry Hunting with a trained bird of prey

Falconry is the hunting of wild animals in their natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey. Small animals are hunted; squirrels and rabbits often fall prey to these birds. Two traditional terms are used to describe a person involved in falconry: a "falconer" flies a falcon; an "austringer" flies a hawk or an eagle. In modern falconry, the red-tailed hawk, Harris's hawk, and the peregrine falcon are some of the more commonly used birds of prey. The practice of hunting with a conditioned falconry bird is also called "hawking" or "gamehawking", although the words hawking and hawker have become used so much to refer to petty traveling traders, that the terms "falconer" and "falconry" now apply to most use of trained birds of prey to catch game. Many contemporary practitioners still use these words in their original meaning, however.

Hooded vulture Species of bird

The hooded vulture is an Old World vulture in the order Accipitriformes, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks. It is the only member of the genus Necrosyrtes, which is sister to the larger Gyps genus, both of which are a part of the Aegypiinae subfamily of Old World vultures. It is native to sub-Saharan Africa, where it has a widespread distribution with populations in southern, East and West Africa. It is a scruffy-looking, small vulture with dark brown plumage, a long thin bill, bare crown, face and fore-neck, and a downy nape and hind-neck. Its face is usually a light red colour. It typically scavenges on carcasses of wildlife and domestic animals. Although it remains a common species with a stable population in the lower region of Casamance, some areas of The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau, other regions such as Dakar, Senegal, show more than 85% losses in population over the last 50 years. Threats include poisoning, hunting, loss of habitat and collisions with electricity infrastructure, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as "critically endangered" in their latest assessment (2017). The highest current regional density of hooded vultures is in the western region of The Gambia.

California condor Large New World vulture from western North America

The California condor is a New World vulture and the largest North American land bird. It became extinct in the wild in 1987 when all remaining wild individuals were captured, but has since been reintroduced to northern Arizona and southern Utah, the coastal mountains of central and southern California, and northern Baja California in Mexico. Although four other fossil members are known, it is the only surviving member of the genus Gymnogyps. The species is listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as Critically Endangered.

Harpy eagle Species of eagle

The harpy eagle is a neotropical species of eagle. It is also called the American harpy eagle to distinguish it from the Papuan eagle, which is sometimes known as the New Guinea harpy eagle or Papuan harpy eagle. It is the largest and most powerful raptor found throughout its range, and among the largest extant species of eagles in the world. It usually inhabits tropical lowland rainforests in the upper (emergent) canopy layer. Destruction of its natural habitat has caused it to vanish from many parts of its former range, and it is nearly extirpated from much of Central America. In Brazil, the harpy eagle is also known as royal-hawk. The genus Harpia, together with Harpyopsis and Morphnus, form the subfamily Harpiinae.

Saker falcon Species of bird

The saker falcon is a large species of falcon. This species breeds from central Europe eastwards across the Palearctic to Manchuria. It is mainly migratory except in the southernmost parts of its range, wintering in Ethiopia, the Arabian peninsula, northern Pakistan and western China. The saker falcon is the national bird of Hungary, the United Arab Emirates, and Mongolia.

Prairie falcon Species of bird

The prairie falcon is a medium-large sized falcon of western North America. It is about the size of a peregrine falcon or a crow, with an average length of 40 cm (16 in), wingspan of approximately 1 meter (40 in), and average weight of 720 g (1.6 lb). As in all falcons, females are noticeably bigger than males. Though a separate species from the peregrine, the prairie falcon is basically an arid environment adaptation of the early peregrine falcon lineage, able to subsist on less food than the peregrine, and generally lighter in weight than a peregrine of similar wing span. Having evolved in a harsh desert environment with low prey density, the prairie falcon has developed into an aggressive and opportunistic hunter of a wide range of both mammal and bird prey. It will regularly take prey from the size of sparrows to approximately its own weight, and occasionally much larger. It is the only larger falcon native only to North America. It is resident from southern Canada, through western United States, and into northern Mexico. The prairie falcon is popular as a falconry bird, where with proper training it is regarded as being as effective as the more well known peregrine falcon.

Aplomado falcon Species of bird

The aplomado falcon is a medium-sized falcon of the Americas. The species' largest contiguous range is in South America, but not in the deep interior Amazon Basin. It was long known as Falco fusco-coerulescens or Falco fuscocaerulescens, but these names are now believed to refer to the bat falcon. Its resemblance in shape to the hobbies accounts for its old name orange-chested hobby. Aplomado is an unusual Spanish word for "lead-colored", referring to the blue-grey areas of the plumage – an approximate English translation would be "plumbeous falcon". Spanish names for the species include halcón aplomado and halcón fajado ; in Brazil it is known as falcão-de-coleira.

The World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho, is the headquarters for The Peregrine Fund, an international non-profit organization founded in 1970 that conserves endangered raptors around the world.

Ornate hawk-eagle Species of bird

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. The ornate hawk-eagle female lays almost always a single egg and the species has a fairly prolonged breeding cycle like many tropical raptors, especially due to a lengthy post-fledging stage on which juveniles are dependent on their parents. It is a diversified and exceptionally powerful predator which takes a range of prey, usually various medium-to-large-sized birds and small-to-medium-sized mammals as well as occasional reptiles. Like many forest-dependent raptors, especially those in the tropical and subtropical regions, this species is likely under the pressing threat of deforestation. The decline of forest habitat in this species range, especially the Amazon rainforest, led the IUCN to uplist the ornate hawk-eagle as Near Threatened in 2016.

Orange-breasted falcon Species of bird

The Orange-breasted Falcon is a bird of the falcon family. It is probably closely related to and looks like a larger version of the bat falcon, with whom it can be easily mistaken. These two, in turn, are probably closest to the aplomado falcon and constitute a rather old American lineage of Falco.

Hacking is a training method that helps young birds of prey reach their hunting potential by giving them exercise and experience. This technique is used to prepare the falcon to become an independent hunter. The sequence of the procedure includes captivity, releasing, flight, and either the falcon will be recaptured for falconry or released into the wild. This has also been adapted to other raptor species to preserve the population. Generally, falconers agree that hacked falcons are better and more preferred in the field. Hacking is beneficial, not only for the falconers, but for the bird itself and the species; however, there are some criticism and restrictions that come along with this method.

Black-and-chestnut eagle Species of bird

The black-and-chestnut eagle is a South American species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is sometimes called Isidor's eagle. It is often placed in the monotypic genus Oroaetus. However, recent genetic testing indicates that this species is fairly closely related to Spizaetus species and thus the species should be included in that genus.

Jemima Parry-Jones British ornithologist

Jemima Parry-Jones is a British authority on birds of prey (raptors), a conservationist, author, raptor breeder, lecturer, consultant and is the Director of the International Centre for Birds of Prey.

Ventana Wildlife Society (VWS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1977 by a group of private citizens to restore endangered species native to central California. VWS has three full-time staff biologists, together with seasonal interns, monitoring, tracking and researching endangered species, songbirds and butterflies. Educational science programs for school children bring youth in touch with nature in their own neighborhoods, or through summer science camps.

Dietary biology of the golden eagle

The golden eagle is one of the most powerful predators in the avian world. One author described it as "the pre-eminent diurnal predator of medium-sized birds and mammals in open country throughout the Northern Hemisphere". Golden eagles usually hunt during daylight hours, but were recorded hunting from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset during the breeding season in southwestern Idaho. The hunting success rate of golden eagles was calculated in Idaho, showing that, out of 115 hunting attempts, 20% were successful in procuring prey. A fully-grown golden eagle requires about 230 to 250 g of food per day. In the life of most eagles, there are cycles of feast and famine, and eagles have been known to go without food for up to a week. Following these periods without food, they will then gorge on up to 900 g (2.0 lb) at one sitting. The powerful talons of the golden eagle ensure that few prey can escape them once contact is made. The talons of this species exert approximately 440 pounds per square inch (3 MPa) of pressure, around 15 times more pressure than is exerted by the human hand, although some claim that the largest individual females may reach a pressure of 750 psi (5.2 MPa). Few other large raptors have been tested in their foot strength, though the huge harpy eagle, when tested, exerted a psi approximately 40 kg (88 lb) greater than the tested golden eagle. It has been claimed that the golden eagle can lift more than its own body weight in flight. However, other sources claim that a hare, marmot or deer calf weighing 4 kg (8.8 lb) is a struggle for even a large female to carry and that prey much over 2 kg (4.4 lb) would require favorably high wind conditions.

Hawkwatching Citizen science activity

Hawkwatching is a mainly citizen science activity where experienced volunteers count migratory raptors in an effort to survey migratory numbers. Groups of hawkwatchers often congregate along well-known migratory routes such as mountain ridges, coastlines and land bridges, where raptors ride on updrafts created by the topography. Hawkwatches are often formally or informally organized by non-profit organizations such as an Audubon chapter, state park, wildlife refuge or other important birding area. Some hawkwatches remain independent of any organizing structure.

Thomas Joseph Cade was an American ornithologist most notable for his efforts to conserve the peregrine falcon.

References

  1. Cade, T.J., W. Burnham. 2003. Return of the Peregrine: a North American saga of tenacity and teamwork, The Peregrine Fund, Boise, Idaho. ISBN   0-9619839-3-0
  2. Fund, The Peregrine. "Our Mission | The Peregrine Fund". www.peregrinefund.org. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
  3. Burnham, P., Cafferty, J. 2007. Annual Report 2006, The Peregrine Fund, World Center for Birds of Prey. The Peregrine Fund, Boise, ID.
  4. Fund, The Peregrine. "Student Education and Research: Neotropical | The Peregrine Fund". www.peregrinefund.org. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
  5. Fund, The Peregrine. "Financial Information | The Peregrine Fund". www.peregrinefund.org. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
  6. Cade, T.J., J.H. Enderson, C.G. Thelander, and C.M. White. 1988. Peregrine Falcon populations, their management and recovery. The Peregrine Fund, Boise, ID. ISBN   0-9619839-0-6
  7. Burnham 2003