Falcons take flight over Camas Prairie

JEROME - Four fledgling peregrine falcons are calling the Camas Prairie home after taking flight this past week on the Idaho Department of Fish and Game Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area (WMA). The four falcons are part of a reintroduction project to establish the once common avian predator to its formally occupied range. This is the second year for this project. Once established in the Fairfield area, they will range from Salmon to the Boise Valley. Peregrines once could be found in much of Idaho. In the late '60s and early '70s falcons suffered catastrophic population declines attributed primarily to the now banned insecticide DDT. Two of the three peregrine falcon subspecies in North America were listed as Endangered under the Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969 (the predecessor to the Endangered Species Act of 1973). Most uses of DDT were banned in the United States in 1972, mainly because of its adverse effects on birds and other wildlife. Idaho was not immune from the population declines of peregrines. In 1975, what was thought to be the last wild American peregrine falcon nest in Idaho was identified in a remote area near Salmon. With the banning of DDT, wildlife biologists began reintroducing falcons in the lower 48 states. Approximately 6,000 captive bred peregrines were released throughout the United States. In 1999, after years of steady population gains throughout much of the reintroduction area, American peregrine falcons were removed from the Endangered Species List. Other listed subspecies, which occurs primarily in northern Canada and Alaska, were removed from the list in 1994. Although no longer listed as Endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission lists the American peregrine falcon as a protected nongame species. It is illegal to collect, harm, or otherwise remove protected nongame species from their natural habitat. During the 1980s and 1990s, a peregrine reintroduction program was carried out in Idaho. Releases during this period were primarily completed in the eastern portion of the state as part of a cooperative effort among resource management agencies in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. The idea was to establish a core population in the greater Yellowstone area that could repopulate other parts of the three states as numbers increased. Because this reintroduction effort was costly and conservation dollars are always limited, few peregrines were released in other portions of Idaho. A few birds were released in southwestern Idaho, but none were released in south central portions of the state. Even thought peregrine falcons are no longer listed as an endangered species, Fish and Game biologists are hoping to develop a more contiguous distribution to increase the chances of genetic diversity by joining the eastern and western populations of Idaho falcons. Establishing a viable population in the Camas Prairie will allow future offspring to mate and reproduce with populations for the east and west, and help insure the future of peregrine falcons in Idaho. The non-game and education branches of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the Sawtooth National Forest funded the Camas Prairie reintroduction project. The Environmental Resource Center of Sun Valley, Idaho Power Company, and the Blaine County School District provided additional support. Preparing falcons for the wild JEROME - Preparing young falcons for life in the wild is difficult work. To help them succeed, Fish and Game biologists build specially designed boxes and place them on top of human constructed towers or cliff ledges. The tower and hack box is built to represent the natural surroundings young peregrines would be introduced to if they were raised in the wild. Centennial Marsh WMA is an ideal place to release peregrines because it is a large protected area in a sparsely populated portion of the state and it supports abundant populations of many other bird species (the primary food source for peregrines). In addition, the nearby mountain ranges provide suitable natural nesting habitat and peregrines apparently had not repopulated the area on their own. After being placed in the hack box, the young birds are fed farm-raised quail and the box is closed for approximately one week. The quail are thawed and biologists skin the breasts. Water is then sprayed on the meat to moisten it. The spraying provides the moisture the young birds need to survive. After being in the hack box a week, three days of food is placed on the tower. The birds are fitted with radio transmitters and the door is opened. The birds can then head out to the edge of the tower, flap their wings and prepare for their first flight. After the birds begin flying, biologists will continue to take quail to them until they learn to hunt and can make it on their own.