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Alison:
Breeding success

Open-mouthed and featherless, three falcon chicks crane their necks toward their mother as she tears chunks of meat from a fresh quail and gingerly feeds her wide-eyed young.  Safe beneath their mother's vigilant lookout, the shrill crying of the hungry brood in the nest is a scene that has played itself out in remote rocky reaches of the globe from time immemorial.

But in this instance, the gravel substrate beneath the chicks is part of a triangular man-made nest positioned in a breeding chamber deep inside the UAE's only commercial falcon breeding facility — the Nad Al Sheba Avian Reproduction Research Centre.
The fabled goose that laid the golden egg, it would appear, has changed its feathers.

Today, it is the rare and magnificent falcon raised in captivity that is laying four to 15 golden eggs a year, that ultimately, as adults, fetch more than $30,000 (Dh110,100) apiece when sold as full-grown hunting birds. Breeding, raising and selling falcons is big business for the centre, producing more than 200 fully grown specimens a year for sale in an international industry worth untold billions annually.

Opened in the spring of 2001 by owner Mohammad Suhail Bin Tarraf, 36 falcons were raised in the centre in its first year.  By the end of this year's spring-breeding season, there could be more than 250 fully grown falcons in the most productive year ever, said David Le Mesurier (pictured below), avian centre manager.

"I don't count my chickens before they're hatched but I have a lot of eggs at the end of the month," Le Mesurier told Gulf News during a tour inside the facility.  A UK expatriate who has raised falcons since the age of 12, Le Mesurier helped custom design the avian centre to create a comfortable environment for the hundreds of breeding falcons he maintains, as well as the hunting-bird offspring that are sold each year to enthusiasts both domestically and abroad.

In five large breeding buildings, 112 specially designed breeding chambers include, for example, one-way observation windows that face away from nests at a 45-degree angle to avoid birds seeing their reflections.  Chamber entry doors open into the room rather than against the wall, he said, to prevent birds from flying out into the long hallways where clipboards hang at each chamber doorway, with charts carefully logging all aspects of the young birds' formative years, before release and sale.

Attention to detail is the backbone of Le Mesurier's business acumen when it comes to caring for each and every falcon, he said.

"It makes good business sense," he said. When people shell out large amounts of money, they want only the best money can buy.

"As far as I'm aware, we're the only commercial breeding project in the UAE. We produce very high quality birds. They will always sell," he said, adding that it's all about "selling high quality product at a good price".

On the business front, Le Mesurier said the yearly market strategy is to stay ahead of competitors by offering its birds for sale at the beginning of the autumnal falconry hunting season, at a time when foreign falcon representatives enter the UAE to offer their birds as well.  The falcon reproduction centre sells about 80 per cent of its birds to Emirati Shaikhs in the UAE, he said. "Within three or four days, all of our birds are sold."

For the rest of the article:

http://gulfnews.com/business/features/breeding-success-1.624947

Alison:
Lovebirds home to nest at Sebel Cairns

A SWEET romance has blossomed above as two peregrine falcons come home to roost on the Sebel Cairns Hotel sign.

The Weekend Post photographer Marc McCormack has been following the life of a peregrine falcon at the Abbott St hotel for months and has recently noted the bird’s single life is over.  Ornithologist and Birds Australia representative for Mossman and the Daintree, Del Richards, said the peregrines, the fastest birds in the world, capable of reaching speeds of up to 260km/h, have come back to nest.

"These birds might live for 30 years and mate for life," Mr Richards said. "They start their courtship and mate this time of year, have their chicks in August, and move to the mountains around October to take their young from the city."

While they live in Cairns, the falcons feed on pigeons and lorikeets. Mr Richards believes the same pair has a long history in Cairns and has previously nested on a balcony of an Esplanade hotel for many years.

http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2010/05/08/108815_local-news.html

I remember seeing photos of this pair in the past.

Alison:
Llanito, Gibraltar

The Llanito Peregrines

In a quiet corner of Windmill Hill flats, the first of two yearly clutches of captive-bred Peregrine falcons is growing up fast.  Reared in captivity and trained by experienced falconers at the Raptor Unit of the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society, the three birds will eventually be released into the wild.

Some will settle in Gibraltar, while others will move further afield. Thanks in part to this breeding program, this majestic bird now has a firmly-established presence in Gibraltar. There are currently seven pairs living and nesting on the Rock, as well as one lone falcon trying to establish itself. The birds normally nest in the nooks and crannies of the sheer north face of the Rock, where access is tricky and young birds are relatively safe.

Vincent Robba, who heads the Raptor Unit, said he and his team coordinate the first clutch of captive-bred birds to coincide with birds breeding in the wild. It means that once the captive-bred birds are trained and released, they are more likely to find birds of a similar age.

The birds are trained from seven weeks of age using traditional falconry methods aimed at refining their flying and hunting skills. Over time, they gain confidence in the wild until eventually, their hunting skills perfected, they stop returning to the falconer’s lure.

Sometimes during training, the GONHS raptor team has introduced young captive-bred birds into area where they know wild birds of the same age are learning to fly and hunt. They call this “synchronised hacking”.

“Once we saw our young falcons playing for hours in the air with wild birds,” Mr Robba said.

Two Peregrines were successfully released this way last year and were adopted by Peregrine families in the wild.  

Although the Peregrine breeding program has been underway since the mid to late 1990s, it took several years before the first fertile eggs were laid. It was 2004 before the first Peregrine was born in captivity to a disabled female – she had a broken wing - that had been artificially inseminated with semen from a bird in Spain. The chick was reared and trained in captivity and later released into the wild.

But although the GONHS team took encouragement from this success, the program was often frustrating. Sometimes the male falcons were reluctant to mate. On other occasions when they did mate, the eggs produced were infertile. Over the years, the number of successful clutches increased and these days, several falcons are reintroduced into the wild every year. Remarkably, all were born from the same female. In all, she has produced 21 birds, of which 15 have already been released into the wild.

Through its contacts with Spanish ornithologists, GONHS believes some of those birds may have established themselves in the Cádiz region.

http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=18914

 

Alison:
Bird of prey found hanged on Cumbrian allotment

A wildlife officer for Cumbria police has said they are looking for a key witness after a falcon was found hanging in an allotment. The bird of prey, believed to be either a peregrine falcon or a buzzard, was found on a plot of land near to Kilbride Place, Frizington, on Sunday morning.  Officers believe the bird may have been killed in suspicious circumstances.

PC John Shaw, Cumbria police’s wildlife crime officer, said: “We believe it is either a peregrine falcon or a buzzard. It was found hanging from a fence in the allotment. We have not established a cause of death at the moment. We know someone placed the bird on the fence. We are trying to get that witness to come forward and tell us under what circumstances the bird was found dead.  “It’s quite a problem for birds in the west of the county. We want to get the message across that we will seriously investigate it. It was possibly shot dead. It’s difficult to tell until we do an X-ray. If we are talking about small pellets it is difficult to see them unless X-rayed. We really want to talk to any witnesses who might be able to help with the circumstances. They can speak in confidence with me. Unfortunately Cumbria has quite a lot of bird persecutions. We get birds that are shot, poisoned and trapped illegally. When it comes to birds of prey most of the incidents are deliberate. Birds of prey are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. They are vulnerable to persecution.”

Anyone found to have killed the birds can face a hefty fine and up to six months in prison.  Anyone with information is asked to contact PC John Shaw on 0845 3300247 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

Link to story: News & Star - Bird of prey found hanged on Cumbrian allotment

Alison:
Man tried to smuggle 14 rare Peregrine falcon eggs on a plane to Dubai from Birmingham Airport

Anti-Terror police arrested an alleged thief trying to smuggle rare birds eggs from Wales to Dubai at Birmingham Airport on Bank Holiday Monday.

Jeffrey Lendrum was charged with climbing a mountain in south Wales to steal peregrine falcon eggs from their nest at Solihull Magistrates’ Court.  West Midlands Police said it is the first case of its kind for 20 years.  The 48-year-old, who has dual Zimbabwean and Irish nationality, was said to have the eggs strapped to his body to keep them warm.  He was charged with four offences involving the taking of the eggs from a peak in the Rhondda and hiding them to evade export restrictions. He was also charged with the possession of climbing gear, an incubator and other equipment to take and keep wild bird eggs. Twelve of the 14 eggs are believed to be alive.  Officers said they kept them safe by nesting them on their office computers and turning them regularly until wildlife rescue centre staff arrived to collect them. It is hoped they will eventually be returned to the wild once they are hatched.

Lendrum was remanded in custody on May 5 and he is due to appear at Warwick Crown Court later this month.

Link to story: Birmingham Mail - Man tried to smuggle 14 rare Peregrine falcon eggs on a plane to Dubai from Birmingham Airport

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