Revival of a raptor: Peregrine may be cut from endangered list

Copyright 1998 Chicago Tribune Company Augsut 26, 1998

Peregrine falcons had been under federal protection for eight years by the time Jamie Rappaport Clark found her calling while studying the rare bird of prey in college.

"I've waited for a long time to say these five words: The peregrine falcon is back," Clark, now director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Tuesday as she announced a proposal to remove the world's fastest bird from the endangered species list.

From a low of 324 nesting pairs in 1975, five years after the falcon gained federal protection and three years after the pesticide DDT was banned in the United States, there are now almost 1,600 pairs from the forests of Alaska and Canada south to Mexico.

That's more than double the number of peregrines considered the benchmark for recovery.

A final decision on taking peregrines off the endangered list will come within a year.

However, the falcon still would be protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

In a simultaneous announcement in Georgia, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt released a hesitant peregrine atop Stone Mountain near Atlanta.

"As this bird flies off this mountain today, I hope it carries this message through Georgia and throughout the land," Babbitt said. "The Endangered Species Act is working."

Wildlife agencies, universities, private organizations and individuals helped the peregrine falcon recover through captive breeding programs and protection of nesting sites.

Among the organizations was the Peregrine Fund World Center for Birds of Prey near Boise, which has helped release more than 4,000 peregrines since 1974.

Peregrines nest on cliffs, the ledges of tall buildings and large bridges.

They remain aloft for hours on end in search of prey, swooping in at up to 200 m.p.h. and colliding talons-first with small birds or bats.

Over the years, peregrines were shot as a nuisance predator across the West and then were ravaged by DDT.

There were only 39 known pairs in the contiguous 48 states when they were listed as endangered in 1970. The goal for recovery was 631 pairs.

Since the American alligator was the first to be removed from the endangered list in the late 1970s, only six other species have recovered enough to be taken off.

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