Raptor revival; Back from the brink, peregrine falcons may winter on Georgia's coast no longer
endangered, but still squarely in the debate over federal laws protecting them
By Charles Seabrook
Copyright 1998 Atlanta Journal and Constitution
September 6, 1998
Very soon, dozens of swift-flying peregrine falcons will descend on Georgia's
coast to spend the winter. Anyone walking on the state's barrier island beaches
in the next few months will likely be able to spot one of the awe-inspiring
creatures diving at speeds of
up to 200 mph.
"If you see one of them darting about in the wind, you'll never forget the sight," says Georgia Lt. Gov. Pierre Howard,
an avid birdwatcher.
Twenty-five years ago, the likelihood that anyone would ever see a peregrine
falcon was slim. The bird was on the
brink of extinction after widespread use of DDT and other
pesticides thinned its eggshells and caused other reproductive problems.
Restoration efforts have so successfully brought the falcon back from the edge
of oblivion that federal officials last month took the rare step of removing it
from the federal list of endangered species. The raptor is the first of several
birds to recover after nearly being wiped out by the widespread effects of
DDT. Still recovering are bald eagles, brown pelicans and condors.
"The Endangered Species Act is working," Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt declared as he stood atop Stone Mountain
with
other dignitaries late last month and released a peregrine falcon back into the
wild.
In May, he had emphasized that the
falcon and 28 other once-rare plants and animals likely would be declared fully
or partly recovered within two years and eligible for delisting. Species
expected to be
"flying, splashing and leaping off" the endangered list, which now includes 1,138 plants and animals, range from
the bald eagle and fearsome
gray wolf to the obscure Missouri bladder-pod, Babbitt said.
A group of 30 lawmakers, most from Western states, criticized Babbitt's
statement. In a joint letter to the secretary, they said he had provided no
solid evidence that the ESA was responsible for the recovery of those species.
Some of the species, they
contend, may be delisted largely because their population levels have turned
out to be greater than previously thought or because threats to the species had
been overestimated. Some species may not be true species at all, but hybrids.
In the cases of the peregrine falcon, bald eagle and brown pelican, the banning
of DDT was the main
reason for their recovery, not the ESA, the lawmakers said.
"The majority of the species (in Babbitt's announcement) were anything but proof
that the Endangered Species Act works," said Tom Pyle, director of the caucus of Western lawmakers.
"Secretary Babbitt was spreading bogus information."
Babitt's reply:
"These people cannot
stand the sight of success, and the ESA has been a success."
The peregrine falcon is in the middle of this debate. The day after Babbitt
released the peregrine at Stone Mountain, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
officially served notice in the Federal Register that the bird is being
proposed for delisting. After
a public comment period ends Nov. 23, the bird will be taken off the list if
there are no strong objections from the public, biologists or conservation
groups.
The FWS acknowledges that the banning of DDT in 1972 made the falcon's recovery
possible. The falcon was not directly poisoned by DDT
but from the
pesticide residue stored in the fatty tissue of the seed-eating and insect-eating birds
that are its prey. The DDT in turn caused a thinning of the falcons' eggs, and
very few falcons were being born. By 1975, the peregrine population had reached
a record low of 324 nesting
pairs in North America.
Now there are 1,600 breeding pairs in the nation.
While the DDT ban removed the main cause of the bird's decline, the FWS says
the protection afforded by the Endangered Species Act and the efforts of the
service --- in partnership with state wildlife agencies, universities, private
ornithological groups and individuals --- also were needed.
The peregrine population had reached the point in the early 1970s that the bird
was unable to withstand both natural and man-made threats --- hunting,
pesticides and loss of habitat --- and it was in danger of extinction.
Under the ESA, a fast-track captive breeding program
for the birds was set up at several wildlife centers around the nation to
supply Georgia and other states with birds to re-establish wild populations.
Since 1990, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources has released 29 of
those peregrines at Yonah Mountain, Bell Mountain, Tallulah Gorge,
Cloudland Canyon and other mountain sites in the state. The bird released last
month atop Stone Mountain was cared for at the Chattahoochee Nature Center
after it was found injured in Roswell.
"We also were able (under the ESA) to protect the bird's habitat and protect it
from hunting and
other hazards that may have prevented its recovery," said Jim Ozier, a biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
The ESA, for instance, has prohibited federal agencies from engaging in any
activity that might jeopardize the bird's habitat in national forests and parks
and other federal lands.
State agencies were under similar restrictions.
The ESA also restricted development of private land that harbored the falcon,
but the bird's preference for rugged mountain cliffs and ledges for nesting
meant much of its habitat was on public land.
In addition, the act protected the peregrine from
"illegal takes,"
including hunting, shooting, trapping, collecting or any other practice
harassing or harming the birds. It put a stop to collecting baby falcons and
eggs to raise the birds in captivity and train them for the sport of falconry.
The act also called for the FWS to develop a recovery plan
for the falcon. As a result, the service produced four regional recovery
programs, including one for the falcon in Eastern states.
As part of the recovery program, dozens of falcons were raised in captivity and
then released.
Georgia, on the periphery of the peregrine's nesting range, reportedly has had
only two
successful falcon nests since 1942, with a pair of falcons successfully raising
chicks in a nest on a ledge of a downtown Atlanta skyscraper in 1995 and 1997.
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