The Peregine Fund abandoned the West Texas project in 2008 (I think) with
last of the hacked branded birds released in 2007. The released birds
started reproducing much quicker than the coastal project. Prior to the
unexpected disappearance of the birds that were being monitored in Jeff
Davis and Presidio Counties, it appeared that this would be a successful
project. In 2008 no birds could be located by the Peregine Fund monitors.
If some of those actually persisted and are reproducing, on a small number
of birds could have bands. It is very possible that none of the banded
birds would still be alive.
Since 2009 I know of only three documented Aplomado Falcons in the
Trans-Pecos. None have been banded and only the Balmorhea bird has been
seen more than once. I have not heard anything about the Chihuahua
population in the last three or four years, but the last I heard they were
close to disappearing.
Mar Lockwood
Alpine, Texas
On Sat, Jul 21, 2018, 6:06 PM Steve Gast <segast23@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
No bands are on the bird in the 4 photos in Mark’s flicker site.
Steve Gast
Houston, Texas
On Jul 21, 2018, at 3:53 PM, Justin Bosler <justin.bosler@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hi Mark,
I was under the assumption that birds released by the Peregrine Fund would
be fitted with leg bands and even hacked young would receive bands before
fledging. Was that not the case with this experimental population? One or
two of those hacked birds from Valentine may still persist on the Miller
Ranch in Valentine, with regular observations by the Millers and others.
I'm just not sure if the bird(s) they are seeing are banded or not. I will
try to seek out that information, if known.
Thanks for the report.
Good birding!
Justin Bosler
Austin, TX
On Sat, Jul 21, 2018 at 2:24 PM, Mark Lockwood <mwlockwood402@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I spent four hours birding at Balmorhea Lake, Reeves County, this morning
(21 July). The diversity of birds was nice for mid-summer. The
Aplomado Falcon was again present and the other surprise was a Common Tern.
Highlights included:
Cinnamon Teal – 3
Western Grebe – 15
Clark’s Grebe – 65
Black-necked Stilt – 7
Western Sandpiper – 3
Spotted Sandpiper – 4
Greater Yellowlegs – 3
Wilson’s Phalarope – 23
Black Tern – 2
Common Tern – 1
Forster’s Tern – 1
Great Egret – 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron – 1
White-faced Ibis – 2
Aplomado Falcon – 1
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher – 2
The Aplomado Falcon seems to be visiting the lake with increased
frequency and may be there every afternoon. I have seen it three times in
the last seven days. I have not encountered it in the early mornings and
today it appeared about 11:00. It typically sits next to telephone poles
in the shade and can be easily overlooked. It favors the two poles on the
south side of the dam, but also uses the ones the parallel the dam.
This falcon could potentially be a natural vagrant from the dwindling
population in northern Chihuahua or perhaps the birds released by the
Peregrine Fund in the early 2000s have persisted. In the winter of
2007-08 there were several of these hacked falcons present in the vicinity
of Valentine, Jeff Davis County, but they mysteriously disappeared late
that winter or in the spring not to be relocated. Perhaps they moved to
other areas of that large grassland and have been undetected. I tend to
favor the latter, but there is no way to know one way or the other.
I have put another image of the Aplomado Falcon as well as a few other
images from this morning on my Flickr page:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/70194759@N05/
Mark
Mark Lockwood
Alpine, Texas
