Reasons, the threat of extinction Falcons

* Use of the pesticide DDT (Dichloro-Diphenyl-Tricholor-Ethane) was the primary cause for the Peregrine population to begin to decline and be placed on the endangered list in the early 1970s depending on the state.
Peregrines ate birds that had eaten seeds that had been soaked in the pesticide.
This caused the Peregrine to stop laying eggs, or lay eggs with very this shells.
When the birds tried to incubated the eggs, the shells were so thin they broke.
Pesticide residues become more concentrated as they work their way up the food chain (called "bioaccumulation") and can stay in the environment for years.
* When DDT was banned from use in the US the Peregrine Falcon's population
began to rise again. The use of pesticides is controlled in Canada and the U.S.
but not in Latin America where some of the birds go for the winter.
* In Canada and the U.S. it is illegal to kill or disturb Peregrine Falcons in their nests.
* Peregrine Falcons were removed from the federal endangered species list in August of 1999, however the falcon population is being closely monitored by state wildlife departments especially in Ohio and California.
* Several agencies bred peregrines in captivity and release the young by "hacking".
Birds that are about a month old are placed in a hack box that has been placed on a cliff or ledge of a building. Food is fed to them through a tube so they do not see the human.
Once they can fly and hunt on their own (several weeks later)
the box is left open for them to leave.

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Facts about falcons - 3

BABIES
* Eyases weigh 1 1/2 ounce when first hatched.
* Newly hatched, they are wet and covered with a white fuzz called "down"
. By 3 - 5 weeks the fuzz has been replaced by brown feathers.
* Males develop faster than females, females are larger and more powerful
when fully grown.
* In 3 weeks they are 10 times their birth weight; in 6 weeks they are
full grown; and at 9 - 12 weeks they begin to hunt and care for themselves.
* Their first prey is small game ~ dragonflies and butterflies.
* The first few days of learning to fly is dangerous to the young falcons, especially in
urban areas. Wind changes can slam the birds
into the ground and mirrored or illuminated windows are another hazard.
Unfortunately statistics are not on their side, only one out of two manage to survive the first year.

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falcon in sky

falcon in sky

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Falco dickinsoni

Dickinson's Kestrel (Falco dickinsoni) is a bird of prey of southern and eastern Africa belonging to the falcon family Falconidae. It is named after John Dickinson, an English physician and missionary who collected the type specimen.
It is also known as the White-rumped Kestrel.
Its closest relatives are the Grey Kestrel and Banded Kestrel and the three
are sometimes placed in the subgenus Dissodectes.
It inhabits savanna and open woodland, particularly swampy areas near water.
It is typically associated with palm trees and is also often found near baobab trees.
It occurs in coconut plantations in some areas.
Its range covers most of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi along with north-eastern South Africa (mainly in Kruger National Park), northern Botswana, north-east Namibia, eastern Angola, southern Democratic Republic of the Congo and parts of Tanzania.
It is an occasional visitor to Kenya.
The total range is about 3.4 million km2. It is generally rather scarce but is commoner in some areas such as Zanzibar and
Pemba Islands. Loss of palm trees is a potential threat to the species.

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Falco rupicolus

The Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) is a bird of prey species belonging to
the kestrel group of the falcon family Falconidae.
It is also known as the European Kestrel, Eurasian Kestrel
or Old World Kestrel. In Britain, where no other brown falcon occurs, it is generally just called "the kestrel".
This species occurs over a large range.
It is widespread in Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as occasionally
reaching the east coast of North America.
But although it has colonized a few oceanic islands, vagrant individuals are generally rare; in the whole of Micronesia for example, the species was only
recorded twice each on Guam and Saipan in the Marianas.
Common Kestrels measure 32–39 cm (13-15 in) from head to tail, with a wingspan of 65–82 cm (26-32 in). Females are noticeably larger
with the adult male weighing 136-252 g (c,5-9 oz), around 155 g (around 5.5 oz) on average; the adult female weighs 154-314 g (about 5.5-11 oz), around 184 g (around 6.5 oz) on average. They are thus small compared with other birds of prey
but larger than most songbirds. Like the other Falco species
they have long wings as well as a distinctive long tail.

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Falco duboisi

The Réunion Kestrel (Falco duboisi) is an extinct bird of prey belonging
to the falcon family.
It inhabited the Mascarene island of Réunion and
was part of the Western Indian Ocean radiation of kestrels.
Known from subfossil bones and the writings of Dubois published in 1674
this bird was larger than its relative F. punctatus on Mauritius, being about the size of a Common Kestrel, or around 35 cm from head to tail, with males being noticeably smaller than females.
This trait, while present in most birds of prey, is most pronounced
in the larger, bird-eating species and reduces between-sex competition by niche differentiation. It can be assumed that
the bird was of the same generally brownish coloration as its closest relatives, with a lighter underside and darker spots or stipples, the tail, brown or more probably grey, being banded and tipped black. Its feet were yellow and large relative to the bird's overall size.
The wingspan was 60-70 cm
its wings being more rounded than those of the Common Kestrel - just as in the Mauritius bird - for increased maneuvrability when hunting in the forest. It is probable, but not certain, that the only difference between the sexes was their size.
The bird fed mainly on birds
but certainly also on insects and the local gecko; Dubois noted that despite their
small size they were able to prey on (presumably half-grown) domestic chickens.

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