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For release May 9, 1996 Ken Burton 202-208-5634

ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT SUCCESSES RECOUNTED
AS ADJUNCT TO INTERNATIONAL MIGRATORY BIRD DAY

As Americans celebrate International Migratory Bird Day May 11,
they can be heartened by the success of the Endangered Species
Act: nearly 50 of the 90 U.S. birds classified as either
endangered or threatened are either stable or increasing in
number.

"Birds are such a part of our daily life--we see them and watch
them every day--that we sometimes take them for granted until
that day when we suddenly realize they are gone. No one will
ever again see a passenger pigeon or a Santa Barbara song
sparrow. They are extinct. Today should give us pause to
reflect on all that birds mean to us," said Mollie Beattie,
Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Beattie noted that the American bald eagle, peregrine falcon, and
brown pelican are examples of birds that are well on their way to
recovery, while the California condor and the whooping crane are
encouraging examples of how species can be rescued from the brink
of extinction.

o Twenty-five years ago, the bald eagle was in danger of
extinction throughout most of its range. Habitat loss,
illegal shooting, and a contaminated food chain took the
bird from an estimated population of 25,000 to 75,000
nesting eagles in 1782, when the bird was adopted as the
national symbol, to fewer than 450 nesting pairs in the
lower 48 states by the 1960s.

Banning the pesticide DDT, which caused eggshells to thin
and break before hatching, played a major role in the
eagle's recovery, along with the added protection and
recovery efforts under the Endangered Species Act. Today,
eagles have rebounded to more than 4,500 nesting pairs in
the lower 48 states and their comeback led the Service to
reclassify the bird in 1995 from endangered to threatened.

o The peregrine falcon, a bird never highly abundant in the
United States, was likewise seriously affected by the
ingestion of DDT. In the 1930s and 1940s, the peregrine
population was estimated at about 500 breeding pairs in the
eastern United States and about 1,000 pairs in the West and
in Mexico. By the mid-1960s, the bird had been eliminated
from nearly all of the eastern U.S. and the decline was
spreading westward. Following restrictions on the use of
DDT and concerted recovery and reintroduction efforts, there
are now about 1,200 breeding pairs of peregrine falcons in
the lower 48 states and Alaska and the Service is
considering removing the bird from the list of threatened
and endangered species.

o The brown pelican has few natural enemies; their biggest
threats have come from man. In the late 19th and early 20th
centuries, pelicans were hunted for their feathers, which
were used to adorn women's clothing and hats. Following
World War I, fishermen, convinced pelicans were decimating
catches, slaughtered the birds by the thousands; by the
1940s, DDT became the newest threat. Eventually, studies
showed that pelicans were not harming commercial fisheries
and in 1970 the birds were listed as an endangered species.
Pelicans began to recover following the 1972 ban on DDT and
the Atlantic Coast population was removed from the
endangered list in 1985, although the birds remain listed as
endangered in the U.S. Gulf and Pacific coasts.

o An estimated 500 to 1,400 whooping cranes inhabited North
America in 1870. Habitat loss and shooting took a heavy
toll on whooping cranes during the settlement of the West;
one of two flocks that remained was devastated when a
hurricane hit Louisiana in 1940. The whooping crane does
not reach breeding maturity until the age of 4 and then
produces two eggs; only a single offspring, however,
normally survives. Consequently, the species is less
capable of a quick recovery from any appreciable population
loss.

The tallest bird in North America at 5 feet, and with a
wingspan of 7 feet, the whooping crane was declared
endangered in 1967. Since then, the Service has conducted
an ambitious captive breeding and recovery program. Nesting
sites are now protected in Canada and the United States.
The success of the Service whooping crane program has led to
the program's adoption by countries seeking to protect other
crane species.

o The California condor may have started its long decline as
early as the 1890s. By the late 1970s, there were 25 to 30
remaining in the wild but by 1985, the number had dwindled
to fewer than a dozen. In 1987, the Service removed the
last condor from the wild after 4 of 5 breeding pairs
disappeared. While no single event has been identified as
the reason for the condor's decline, shrinking natural
habitat undoubtedly played a part as condors prefer huge
open areas in which to hunt for food. Condors and their
eggs were also illegally collected over the years. Some
succumbed to poison and others were killed in collisions
with power lines.

The 25-pound birds have a wingspan of 9 1/2 feet and may not
start breeding until they are 7 or 8 years of age; even
then, condors will produce only a single egg every other
year. A fledgling is dependent upon its parents through the
next breeding season. Today, however, thanks to an
energetic captive-breeding and reintroduction program, there
are 104 condors in existence; 17 are living in the wild and
the remainder in breeding facilities. A search for
appropriate habitat goes on, including a proposal to
reintroduce the bird into the Grand Canyon, and the outlook
for this giant creature is more promising today than it was
just 5 years ago.

"International Migratory Bird Day is a good time to reflect on
how birds contribute to all facets of our national life," Beattie
said. "They are vital creatures. Birds contribute to the
economy. They are useful. They are the balance wheel that keeps
the insect world from overwhelming people. They are endlessly
fascinating to watch and they accent the seasons in wonderful
ways. The national symbol of the United States is a bird. The
choice was not an accident."


-FWS-


Deborah Wisti-Peterson email:nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~nyneve/
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