I see no compelling argument to allow the taking of wild falcons at this
time. I sent both an email, and a written letter to the Wildlife Advisory
Commission stating my opinion. I encourage others to do the same. It is my
opinion, that the prudent action would be to delay any consideration of this
for 5 years, which should give us a clear understanding of how West Nile
effects the Peales falcon. There is no hurry to allow the take, there is an
abundance of captive breed falcons for sporting use available at this time.

The falcon population in WA is monitored, and several nests are monitored,
but it my understanding that many nesting sites are not as closely monitored
as one would think, and future budget changes may very well create gaps in
research.

Raptor nestling mortality will hopefully be something that is closely
watched in the next few years, and dead nestlings will need to be tested for
WNV. Perhaps the downside of falcon recovery is that monitoring budgets go
to other species.

How will we know what WNV will do to falcons if funding for this research is
not available? What about Red-tails, kestrels, Great-horned owls? Heck,
what about crows?

Maybe birders, universities, NGO's can lend a hand. But the planning
probably should start soon. The virus is here, now. Nestlings may start
dying as early as February.

Rob Sandelin
Sky Valley Environments <http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm>
Field skills training for student naturalists
Floriferous at msn.com



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