Raptors and the West -- hosted by HawkWatch International (HWI) on 12-15
June 1997

We want to report on the highlights of the first meeting of the Hawk
Migration Assoc. of North America to be held in the West. There were 45
talks given so we will briefly summarize only those that were of particular
interest to us. Our apologies to the other fine speakers who we are leaving
out. Kudos to the following:

1. Brian Woodbridge for his talk on how they used 32 satillite transmitters
on Swainson's Hawks (SW) sampled from several study areas in Western US to
describe the fall migration of SW to a restricted area in the Argentina
pampas. The study was started to explain the the severe overwintering losses
in specific years that they had noticed at their Butte Valley site in
Northern CA.

During several field trips to the pampus they found that the SW congregated
together in flocks in limited areas eating mainly grasshoppers that are very
abundant. These areas had been used for many years to raise cattle but now
are being switched over to raise crops and the grasshoppers have been a
major problem to the farmers. With the assistance of the Argentinans they
found groups of dead SW's numbering in the thousands that had eaten
grasshoppers from particular fields. These fields had been sprayed with a
toxic agricultural spray that contains an ingredient originally developed
for use in war time for nerve gas. Their educational and grassroots
conservational efforts involved citizens, environmental groups and
government in Argentina and US as well as the companies who made and
distributed the spray. They have had success in their efforts to reduce the
production and use of this toxic spray but it will be a continuing effort as
the number of grasshoppers varies widely from year to year.

2. Descriptions of the numerous migration study sites in the West (in case
you are wondering what to do in the fall and spring) -- Steve Hoffman
described the 12 HWI sites. Allan Fish described the Golden Gate site. Diann
MacRae talked about her TV study at Salt Creek and Greg Kaltenecker
introduced the Boise raptor site. A study of Prairie Falcons at the
Pinnacles Nat'l Monument in CA was presented. The Clarks described the Cape
Flattery site and how weather affects daily counts. But the blockbuster site
was Veracruz Mexico. We recommend that you go this fall if you are
interested since this has the potential of becoming a major ecotourist
venture in the future due to the millions of raptors seen at this location.
Since 1991, Pronatura Veracruz, Hawk Mountain, and HWI have conducted
monitoring programs for raptors and wading birds. Ernesto Ruelas-Inzuna and
Jorge Montero-Diaz described the site, the Pronatura goals, and how they
count the huge number of raptors seen overhead. For information on taking
part in this major migration project contact Steve Hoffman 1-800-726-hawk or
Pronatura e-mail
verpronatura at laneta.apc.org or phone (28) 12-88-44.

3. Two species status reports were given. One by Dr Marc Bechard of Boise
State on Ferruginous Hawks (FH) and one by John Keane on Northern Goshawks
(NG). Marc noted that no significant declines in FH were found in Federal
studies -- they are listed as a species of special concern by USFWS. Others
have shown recent declines in Nevada and Utah. FH breed in southern Canada
and United States in the prairies and Great Basin shrub-steppe country.
Their diet is mainly jack rabbits, prairie dogs (which many people are
trying to exterminate) and ground squirrels. FH are very sensitive to
disturbance by people. Threats include urbanization, cultivation, grazing,
poisoning of prey, and cheat grass.

John Keane discussed the landscape and diet needs of NG. Steve Hoffman had
noted a 40% decline in NG at the HWI Wellsville site. John Keene noted that
the population trends were uncertain and may lag behind habitat changes.
John pointed out that the NG nests in conifer forests and large aspen. They
need a high canopy forrest (large trees) with open spaces close to the
ground. On the west coast they are found in areas having at least 300 acres
of suitable forest area. Timber harvesting is a major threat to this raptor.
They feed on squirrels and snowshoe hares. The female becomes inactive prior
to breeding and the male feeds her so that she can increase her diet with
little energy expended. The number of squirrels during early spring
determines if the female will breed and the number of young raised. The
number of squirrels in turn depends on the number of cones produced and the
cone crop production is most constant and highest from trees that are at
least 100 years old.

4. Keith Bildstein of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary (HMS) discussed the plans of
HMANA and HMS to set up a computerized data base of the data collected in
the past and in the future by HMANA. We admire their efforts to tackle this
huge task but question whether they have sufficient personnel to make real
headway soon, particularly with the older data.

5. William Clark and Brian Wheeler gave ID tips on hawk identification, with
their usual spectacular photograhic illustrations.

6. Grainger Hunt of the Predatory Bird Research Group at UC Sata Cruz
presented a study on the effects of wind turbine blade strikes and
electrocution from a wind farm East of Livermore, CA on Golden Eagles (GE).
They determined that at least 80 GE were killed 1991-95. GE were radio
tracked to see which segment of the GE populations was at greatest risk and
to determine which of the preventive measures (increasing the visability of
the blades, protective wire, removing ground squirrels from under wind
turbines) were effective.

Virginia Clark