Tweets,

"Nest robbing" is an on-going problem. I do feel that the location of
raptor nests, especially those of sensitive species, either need to be
protected more carefully, or be kept somewhat hidden from the public.
Bird watchers would probably love the oppurtunity to watch a nesting pair
of raptors, and it would be nice if such information could be given to
only those who are responsible.

Responsible falconers rarely take adult birds, and only take one nestling
or "eyas" out of a nest. Also Washington state law says that "It is
unlawful for a person to remove more than one immature raptor from a
nest." and "It is unlawful to remove any immature raptor from a nest
unless one or more live, immature raptors remain in the nest after such
removal." The problems come when a person thinks that it would be fun to
keep a baby raptor as a pet. What they don't realize is that unless they
are taken care of properly, they become imprints, which are extremely
dangerous to their holder. Also, some people which I will refer to as
"psuedo-falconers" because of their blatent disregard for these laws and
because of their lack of common sense, take all the birds from one nest,
sometimes trying to sell them to others as being captive bred. There are
laws to help prevent this, saying that you have to have a raptor breeding
permit, and the young have to be wearing a special seamless band.

Most falconers are responsible to aviod this type of behavior, usually
because they see that such actions will give all falconers a bad name,
and will only lead to more government control and interference with their
practice of the sport. Too bad there are so many knuckleheads out there.


Not a falconer yet, but hoping to be in the near future,

Michael Dossett
Shoreline, Washington
mpdossett at Juno.com



On Thu, 12 Feb 1998 23:10:25 -0800 mprice at mindlink.bc.ca (Michael Price)
writes:
>Hi Tweets,
>
>This may be of interest in the Cascadian region. Perhaps our raptor
>specialists and falconers can comment on the situation as it obtains
>here.
>
>M
>
>Alistair Forsythe writes:
>
>>Hi,
>> Just to reinforce Tor's message. Here in Yorkshire we have an
>>ongoing problem with the destruction of raptor nests, both eggs and
>young
>>of Peregrine are frequently taken. In my own area, last year, no
>Peregrine
>>young fledged. Recent information suggests that even Merlin are now
>being
>>taken for falconry in significant numbers. Whilst, here at least, the
>>knowledge of these people (the thieves) is apparently frighteningly
>>accurate, it is important that raptor nest sites are kept as
>confidential
>>as possible. This year there is a nationwide initiative to improve
>>protection for our raptor species based on a variety of methods and
>>involving many agencies but confidentiality of sites is one of the
>most
>>important methods of all, if they don't know about the site they
>can't
>>destroy the eggs and young or steal them.
>>There is an interesting website, including some very depressing data,
>at
>>www.blackpool.net/nwrpg/index.htm.
>>Regards,
>> Alastair Forsyth.
>>
>>
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>

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