Peregrine Falcon Off Endangered List
Thursday, 19 August 1999
W A S H I N G T O N (AP)

DDT AND other pesticides once pushed the world's fastest bird to near
extinction in the United States. Now, the peregrine falcon has recovered
enough to be taken off the endangered species list.
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt planned to formally remove the peregrine
from the endangered list today in a ceremony at a Boise, Idaho, center for
breeding birds of prey.
"We're going to go out there and get up and celebrate," Babbitt said
Thursday in a conference call with reporters.
The bird's recovery is proof that the Endangered Species Act can protect
wildlife with little economic harm, Babbitt said.
"That is the message that comes at us at 200 miles per hour with the
peregrine falcon," Babbitt said.
At the falcon's low point in 1970, only 39 breeding pairs existed in the
continental United States - all west of the Mississippi, said Jeff Cilek of
The Peregrine Fund. Now, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates more
than 1,650 breeding pairs of peregrines live in North America.
The highest number are in the West, with 167 pairs in California, 164 in
Utah and 159 in Arizona.
Dropping the peregrine from the list means it loses some of the strictest
protections of federal law, such as shielding its habitat from development.
The federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act still makes it illegal to kill the
falcons or possess their feathers or body parts without a rare federal
permit.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to monitor peregrine populations
for 13 years to ensure they don't get in trouble again.
While Babbitt cited the 1973 Endangered Species Act as a big factor in the
peregrine's recovery, falcon experts say the key to saving the birds was the
1972 ban on DDT and later restrictions on the use of similar pesticides.
Peregrines that accumulate DDT and its chemical cousins lay eggs with thin
shells that often break and kill the chicks.
"If that (DDT ban) hadn't happened, we wouldn't be here today, Endangered
Species Act or no," said Peregrine Fund founder Tom Cade.
The ban on DDT was prompted by concerns for such birds as the peregrine
falcon and the bald eagle.
Private groups like The Peregrine Fund have released more than 6,000
peregrines hatched in captivity. Falconers prize the peregrine for its
speed, which can reach more than 200 mph when diving to catch prey, Cade
said.
"Its performance in the air and courtship aerobatics are really
spectacular," he said.
Peregrines prey on smaller birds such as pigeons and starlings, zooming down
on them from above to catch and kill them in midair. The falcons lay their
eggs and raise their young on high ledges such as cliffs, skyscrapers,
smokestacks and bridges, and they have thrived in urban environments.
"To see a falcon cruising down Wall Street and looking for pigeons and
moving in on them, as I have, is an amazing sight," Babbitt said.
The American peregrine falcon is the sixth U.S. species to recover enough to
be removed from the endangered species list, which currently includes about
1,200 plants and animals in the United States. The other recovered species
are the brown pelican, the American alligator, the Rydberg milk-vetch (a
small plant in the pea family), the gray whale and the Arctic peregrine
falcon.
Seven U.S. species on the list have become extinct, and another seven have
been removed because scientists discovered they were variants of other
species or were not endangered in the first place.