CARETAKERS OF WILD RAPTORS
At the
September 2004 Colorado Wildlife Commission meeting and at
the subsequent November, Colorado Springs
meeting; Audubon asked several times about when Chapter 6 (Falconry
Regulations) would be opened for public comment.
I know exactly the reasons why, as they have stated their intentions
several times in the past. They are
going to try and prohibit the taking of wild raptors by falconers. I do not think that Audubon will be a threat
to wild take at the Division and Wildlife Commission level. However, Audubon has also threatened to take
this issue to the Legislature and even make a ballot issue. I have much deep concern about these tactics.
So on my long drive home, from the last Commission meeting
in Denver, I had plenty of time to think about this problem. It is clear, the hand writing is on the wall;
I am fully convinced that these are not idle threats and that Audubon fully
intends to go for our wild take of raptors.
So do we sit back and wait for them to act and then rally to fight them;
or do we take a pro-active approach and make it difficult for them to
succeed. Falconers have been riding the
wave of saving the Peregrine too long and we need to go to work again. I would like to see the CHC start what could
be called “Caretakers of Wild Raptors”, which would consist of on-going
conservation projects. One idea that I
have been entertaining, which I mentioned in the last newsletter, is the
building of Ferruginous Hawk nesting platforms.
I have talked to Brent Bibles (Division Raptor Biologist) about this
idea and he likes it. In fact, he thinks
that if we build enough of them that we could actually increase the local
population by 25%. He feels that the
Comanche Grasslands would be a better site than the Pawnee, because of the lack
of cliffs and mesas. I have investigated
different plans and we could build them for under $50 each. I would like to get at least two up this Spring with a goal of 20 to 30 in the future. The plans do not require telephone poles but
rather a 4” X6” timber; a small group would be able to put one up fairly easy
with the help of a post hole auger.
I am sure that one of the arguments that Audubon will use;
will be similar to the one used by environmentalists on the Division concerning
the Mountain Lion; is “how can you issue licenses when you do not know what the
population is”. The environmentalists
hammered the Division so much, that they finally hired one of the top feline
biologists, in the country, to do a 5-year Mountain Lion population study. I expect that the Goshawk will be the prime
target. The Peregrine is the only raptor
that the Division has population data on.
The Division and Brent Bibles would like to see a study on Goshawks and
other raptors, however the funding is just not
available. Considering this, I came up
with the idea that why couldn’t falconers do a
population study on the Goshawk. That
would really take the wind out of Audubon’s sails. We would certainly be able to get newspaper
and TV coverage. I am confident that Colorado has a large,
viable population; it is just a matter of proving it. We would need to find a substantial number of
nest sites; more than all of the known sites by us. At present, I am hesitant about sharing the
location of my nest sites but once the club has found a large number of sites;
it would seem senseless to remain secretive.
Think about it, we would know of so many sites that it would remove the
competition amongst ourselves.
My goal is to find 100 nest sites. This could be done with the use of a
helicopter flying low over the aspen trees when they are leafless. Once a nest is spotted; the location would be
recorded with a GPS. That summer, club
volunteer ground crews could verify the sites and count the number of
young. Obviously, helicopters are very
expensive; however the Division offers Conservation Grants, up to $50,000, to
organizations with good conservation ideas.
Since mid January, I have been investigating these grants and I am in
the process of writing a proposition to study Goshawk populations. The Division likes the idea and has been
helping me work on the details.
It is crucial that we have a lot of volunteer help if we are
going to check out 100 sites. Ground
crews will only have approximately a 4-week window, starting around June 15 to
verify these sites. I think we need to
send a least two people to check individual sites. Hopefully, two sites could be checked in one
day. For a perspective example; it would
take 10 crews of two (20 volunteers) 5 days to check 100 sites at two sites per
day or five crews of two (10 volunteers) 10 days to check 100 sites at two
sites per day. I would like to see
everyone’s passion for our sport and our birds fired up, like the days when we
rallied together to build Peregrine-breeding barns or worked as eyrie
wardens. Not only is this a good cause
but also it will help protect our sport.
When you think about it; we should be doing conservation work just to
put back what we take. It will promote
club involvement and simply it will be a lot of fun; CHC caravans to Goshawk
country.
There is no sense of me doing much more work on the
Conservation Grant until I know if we are going to have enough club members
involved. I am not asking for a commitment etched in stone, but I would like to hear from
you if you are interested and would make an effort to donate some of your
valuable time. Please let us know
as soon as possible. This would really
be a feather in our cap, if we can make this a reality. As far as I know, we would be the first state
to take on such a venture. It would be
something for all of us to be proud of for years to come. We will need help from members for Goshawk
sites, approximately June 15 till July 7.
It will take about six members to help with the Ferruginous nest
platforms sometime before mid April.
Thanks for your support,
Gordon Grenfell