Falcons Get Glimpse of New Texas Habitat

By Alicia A. Caldwell, Associated Press

VAN HORN, Texas - After living in cardboard U-Haul boxes for two days, 28 endangered North American aplomado falcons got a glimpse of their new home in the rugged West Texas desert Tuesday.

Chirping like hungry seagulls, the birds flapped their narrow wings and fluttered around the boxes lined with straw and the remains of Japanese quail, the snack their handlers fed them during the 1,360-mile ride from Boise, Idaho, in the back of a minivan. Groups of the birds were lifted into small wooden boxes that will be home until they get their first shot at flight in about a week.

Part of the nearly two-decade-old Peregrine Fund plan to return the birds to their natural habitat, 126 aplomado falcons are to be released in about 10 West Texas locations this year. The fund started as an effort to replenish peregrine falcons, which has succeeded.

The aplomado falcons -- 12 inches to 16 inches long with a wingspan from 2 1/2 feet to 3 feet -- disappeared from Texas, New Mexico and Arizona about 50 years ago, and raptor biologist Bill Heinrich said it's unclear why.

Now Heinrich hopes there are enough survivors to mate and revitalize a species listed as endangered since 1986, but he only expects half of those released this year to make it. When they reach 40 weeks and leave the "hack box," a white plywood structure protecting them from roaming cattle and other prey by a narrow strip of electrified tape, the aplomado falcons will have to learn to fly and hunt.

"Sometimes they won't be a good enough hunter and will starve to death," Heinrich said, adding that others may become prey themselves while learning how to survive.

First brought back to South Texas in 1995, the aplomado falcons are no longer released in that area because dozens of pairs are nesting there, Heinrich said. West Texas releases started in 2002, and researchers should be able to determine if they were successful within months.

"They don't start mating for three or four years, so it didn't make sense to track them," Heinrich said.

Now monitors will keep tabs on the birds, each marked with ankle bracelets from Heinrich's group and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, to get a count of how many survive and stay in the area.

Biologists have been trying to bring the falcons back to the open desert for nearly 20 years. But the effort didn't gain enough support until 1999, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service implemented a "Safe Harbor" program that guaranteed private landowners would not be responsible for accidental damage to habitats for endangered species.

Jackie Means, whose family owns and operates the Moon Ranch, one of the sites where birds were released Tuesday, said her family would have been hesitant to let Heinrich bring the birds to their 88,000-acre cattle ranch without the federal program.

"From the get-go we have been interested in participating," Means said. "But we would have had a really hard time without Safe Harbor."

Bob Cook, executive director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said the 1999 federal law was the best thing that could have happened for wildlife conservationists in Texas.

"It encourages people not only to provide and protect good habitat, but it protects them too," Cook said.

Heinrich said the restoration program may soon extend to New Mexico, possibly followed by Arizona. It is likely to take a decade for the aplomado falcon to be removed from the endangered list, Heinrich said.

Source: Associated Press

World's Tiger Habitat Said Down 40 Percent

By Michael Casey, Associated Press

BANGKOK, Thailand - Tiger habitats worldwide have shrunk 40 percent in the past decade and their survival depends on cracking down on poaching, working to reduce conflicts with humans, and protecting key ranges, according to a study released Thursday.

The worldwide tiger population has steadily declined to about 7,500 globally, and the big cats continue to face a myriad of threats -- including the trade in tiger parts to meet demand for traditional medicines in China and Southeast Asia.

Tigers now reside in only 7 percent of their historic range -- 40 percent less than a decade ago, the World Wildlife Fund said.

The study by a coalition of conservation groups identified for the first time 76 areas, mostly in Asia, that have the best chance of supporting tiger populations.

"Many important areas have been overlooked for funding, largely because there has been no method to systematically identify areas of high conservation potential," the study said.

About half of the 76 areas can support 100 tigers and "offer excellent opportunities for the recovery of wild tiger populations."

Researchers are focusing on a few key regions in India, Russia's far east and parts of Southeast Asia. Tiger breeding areas must be protected and efforts to link different tiger habitats need to be improved, the study said.

"We have learned many important lessons over the last 10 years, and this study provides a blueprint for scientists and the countries that hold the key for the tigers' survival," said Mahendra Shrestha, director of National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Save The Tiger Fund, which commissioned the study.

Conservation efforts so far have helped stabilize certain tiger populations, but many initiatives were "ad hoc" and "did little to stem the crisis," the study found.

John Robinson of the Wildlife Conservation Society said tiger conservation requires commitment from local groups, governments, and international donors to "bring the species back to all parts of its biological range."

Source: Associated Press