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Aplomado Falcon

Species Recovery Projects Are Working!
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© Patty Bruno

Aplomado Falcons were once widespread residents of the American Southwest, but by the 1950s, they'd disappeared entirely from the region. Loss of habitat, loss of prey, and pesticides all played a role. But in the 1980s, a group called The Peregrine Fund began breeding captive Aplomado Falcons. Over the next 25 years, 1,500 fledglings were set free in South Texas. At the same time, conservation pacts with private landowners provided more than two million acres of habitat. Learn more in Related Resources below.

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BirdNote® 
Aplomado Falcon – Species Recovery in the Works

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.
[Cassin’s Sparrow song]
The sun rising over a South Texas grassland finds a flock of sparrows, like these Cassin’s Sparrows we’re hearing, perching atop a mesquite bush. They’re awaiting the sun’s first warming rays. [Cassin’s Sparrow song] Suddenly the sparrows flee, as a dark bird of prey races toward them, flying just above the ground at break-neck speed.
This time, the sparrows escape, and their pursuer, an Aplomado Falcon, alights to survey the landscape. [Aplomado Falcon calls] It’s a truly handsome bird, its plumage a bold pattern of black, white, and rust. [Aplomado Falcon calls]
[Its very presence in South Texas is a remarkable story of restoration.] Aplomado Falcons were once widespread residents of the American Southwest, but by the 1950s, they’d disappeared entirely from the region. Loss of habitat, loss of prey, and pesticides all played a role.
But in the 1980s, a group called The Peregrine Fund began breeding captive Aplomado Falcons. Over the next 25 years, 1,500 fledglings were set free in South Texas. At the same time, conservation pacts with private landowners provided more than two million acres of habitat.
While work remains to ensure the bird’s recovery, the handsome Aplomado Falcon appears to have regained a solid foothold in the American Southwest.
[Exchange between a trio of Aplomado Falcons]
 Today’s show brought to you by The Lufkin Family Foundation. For BirdNote, I’m Mary McCann.
                                                                               ###
Sounds of Cassin’s Sparrow and ambient Texas grassland provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, recorded by G.A. Keller.
Single Aplomado Falcon recorded by Alvaro Riccetto, the trio by Andrew Spencer, both for Xeno-Canto.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2013 Tune In to Nature.org          November 2016     Narrator: Mary McCann

ID#          SotB-APFA-01-2011-11-08

Bob Sundstrom
Writer
Mary McCann
Narrator
Patty Bruno
Photographer
Support More Shows Like This
Tagsendangered species raptor Texas State of the Birds grassland falcon

Related Resources

Good news in this 2016 update!More about Aplomado FalconsLearn more about Peregrine Fund projectsStateOfTheBirds.org

More About These Birds

Aplomado Falcon (Falco femoralis)

Falco femoralis

Sights & Sounds

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