All, A few facts about peregrine falcons and falconry. I know of 2 nests in the Smokies Mountain NP and there are likely 1-2 more pairs in the Unakas, but I don't know if those sites are active. I don't know if anyone monitors those sites. If anyone does check on them and/or knows where they are, I'd like to know! In terms of take of peregrines for falconry, one permit may be issued to a permitted Master or General falconer. The person can only trap in TWRA Region 1 (see map in link) and no nestlings would be taken. This is west TN. http://www.tn.gov/twra/gis/WMA_Home.html The bird that can be kept under the permit has to be a juvenile (adults must be released). Birds must be trapped between 20 Sept - 20 Oct in order to reduce the potential of trapping a nonmigratory falcon. It likely that the bird trapped will be a tundrius subspecies because of the timing that trapping occurs. The following link is a shortened link to the Peregrine Falcon species account on the Tennessee's Watchable Wildlife web site. http://tinyurl.com/6hamlef In the "For more information" section near the bottom of the page, I have created a "Falconry Information" section and posted the following: 1. A link to the TWRA falconry web page. Walter Cook is the coordinator. The proclamation on how peregrine take would occur in Tennessee is detailed at the bottom of the TWRA web page. 2. The Final Environmental Assessment and Management Plan (PDF) that was published in 2008 by US Fish and Wildlife. It is a 63 page document, but has a very nice review of the population status of Peregrines, questions from the public about peregrine populations (and more) and responses from USFWS, how the maximum allowed take of migrant juvenile peregrines was established (this number is incredibly conservative), etc. It is pretty interesting stuff. 3. I also included the Federal register that spells out how peregrine take can be implemented. Federal registers are not an easy read. A bit of additional info: 1. A maximum of 12 passage, juvenile peregrines can be taken for falconry in the entire Mississippi Flyway. A total of 36 birds can be taken from the entire Central, Miss., and Atlantic Flyways (which is basically everything east of the Rockies). This is VERY conservative and is 5% or less of the number of juveniles produced annually. 2. This is the 3rd year (I think) of peregrine take in the MS Flyway, but the first time that TN is giving falconers a chance to capture a peregrine. 3. There is definitely no guarantee that a falconer will actually capture a peregrine in Tennessee. I hope this answers a few questions about the falconry issue. The peregrine falcon release was not an effort by TWRA to increase peregrine populations in Eastern Tennessee. Yes, TWRA did give approval for the release of these birds in state, but the hacking itself will probably have minimal effect on the falcon population in Tennessee. All three birds released are male and are less likely to establish themselves here. As juvenile males it is more likely that they will pick-up roots and wander about the country before settling somewhere else if they do survive. Cheers, Scott Somershoe State Ornithologist Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency P.O. Box 40747 Nashville, TN 37204 615-781-6653 (o) www.tnwatchablewildlife.org www.pbase.com/shoeman =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER==================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA -------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Chris O'Bryan Clarksville, TN __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ MAP RESOURCES Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________