[TN-Bird] Re: Three Peregrine Falcons hacked at Rock City and Chattanooga
- From: "Scott Somershoe" <Scott.Somershoe@xxxxxx>
- To: "TN-birds" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:45:10 -0500
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
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