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The
Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group
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Cross Fostering
Captive-hatched Peregrines were fledged from wild prairie Falcon nests. From 1981 to 1992, 107 Peregrine Falcons were cross-fostered in California by SCPBRG.
Hack Site
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While some of the captive hatched chicks were fostered into Peregrine nests in the wild, others were raised by captive Peregrines until they were about 35 days old and then transported to hack sites. At these sites the young Peregrines were kept in a large box with a barred front and fed through a food chute to avoid associating with humans. These Peregrines were fitted with small telemetry transmitters. Once they became accustomed to their surroundings, in about a week, they were released. Feeding continued at the site until the young had learned to hunt on their own and no longer depended on the hack site for food. This technique allowed the introduction of Peregrine Falcons into areas where they no longer nested. The major disadvantage was the absence of adult Falcons to protect the young from predators. Hack sites in California included Boney Ridge, Bonneville Dam, El Capitan Reservoir, Fort Cronkite, Keddie Ridge, Kings River, Lake Crowley, Lake Eleanor, Lee Vining, Muir Beach, North Yosemite, Palos Verdes, Point Loma, San Bernardino, San Miguel Island, Santa Catalina Island, Santa Ynez Ridge, South Lake Tahoe, Tomales Point, and Westwood. From 1981 to 1992, 296 Peregrine Falcons were hacked in California by SCPBRG. Hacking is still used to salvage and translocate Peregrines from urban sites and those at which Peregrines might affect nesting California least terns, another endangered species. |
Efforts through 2008
Because of the growth of the wild population, this sort of hands-on manipulation is no longer done. Eggshell fragments and addled eggs are collected and analyzed for pesticide contamination by the Bodega Bay Institute of Pollution Ecology and the Toxicology Program of UCSC. They are also measured for eggshell thinning by the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology. SCPBRG continues to monitor the Peregrine population.
SCPBRG staff members were available for elementary and secondary school assemblies. Slide lectures taught the impact of contaminated food webs in the context of a natural history lesson, ending on a positive note with the display of one of SCPBRG's raptors. The Predatory Bird Research Group was self-funded and required to cover all of the costs of its activities.
As the population of Peregrine Falcons expanded, SCPBRG depended more and more on a volunteer network of trained observers, birdwatchers, falconers, and nature enthusiasts.
Until 2007, the core staff at the SCPBRG consisted of Coordinator Brian Walton; research associates W. Grainger Hunt, Janet Linthicum, Brian Latta, and office staff Terry Drager, and Cheryl Walton.
Brian Walton died at the age of 55 on June 18 of 2007, just at a time when the purpose of the SCPBRG was changing direction. Unfortunately, the very successful, devoted, and knowledgeable participants who had done the work necessary to bring about an amazing recovery of Peregrine Falcons was disbanded by the university. We owe all of them our continued gratitude for all the fine work they did.
The Predatory Bird Research Group is located in this facility
at the Long Marine Lab, University of California, Santa Cruz.
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Please use the subject line: Peregrine Site Update.
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