Letters

SEABIRD CONSERVATION

Thank you for the beautifully written and illustrated article "Sons of the Sea," by Brian Sullivan, which appeared in your summer issue. While the article mentioned many of the threats to seabirds, I thought it might also be of interest to highlight some of the solutions being pursued by conservation groups.

The threat posed to albatrosses by longline fisheries cannot be overstated; however, longline mortality has been reduced by 85 percent over the past decade in the Alaskan and Hawaiian fisheries by the use of bird-scaring streamer lines advocated by the American Bird Conservancy and other conservation groups.

The breeding grounds of the Black-capped Petrel in the Dominican Republic are also a focus for conservationists working with the Dominican government and national conservation groups there to implement a management plan for the Bahuroco region, a key breeding area for the petrel (and an important wintering area for Bicknell's Thrush).

Among the many other seabird projects underway are successful efforts to remove rats and cats from breeding colonies of Xantus's Murrelet and Hawaiian Petrel and support for seabird bycatch reduction programs in South American fisheries and elsewhere.

Michael J. Parr, Vice President
American Bird Conservancy
Washington, D.C.

RETURNING FALCONS

Thanks for the nice editorial on Peregrine Falcons returning to their native breeding cliffs in Southern California. ("Greetings from Sapsucker Woods," Summer 2006). In Northern California, we also have one return that I know of. According to the Forest Service biologist in the Placerville office, a pair of peregrines is occupying a nest ledge on a cliff west of South Lake Tahoe. For many years before that, a pair of Golden Eagles used the cliff, but rock climbers apparently disturbed these birds, and about five years ago, they left. A couple of years later, the Peregrine Falcons moved in. Conservationists spoke with rock-climbing groups and asked them to respect the site during nesting season. Apparently they did so. I was told a few months ago that the peregrines had successfully hatched a clutch. How many fledged, I haven't yet heard.

In December 2004, I received a first-year male Peregrine Falcon that had been wingshot about 30 miles from that nest site. No way to know if the bird was hatched locally, but I like to think so. He is calm enough to be doing well as an education bird for a local rehabilitation group, but he can never fly again.

Across the western slope of the northern Sierra, most mountain lakes, even small ones, now have nesting Bald Eagles, still listed as winter migrants in this area, even by recent books. The Ospreys have been nesting in our area for 15 years. The Bald Eagles came here about three or four years ago. Two pairs of Ospreys and one Bald Eagle pair share a nearby medium-sized mountain reservoir, elevation about 4,500 feet.

Sallie Reynolds
Placerville, California

For permission to reprint all or part of this article, please contact Tim Gallagher, editor, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 159 Sapsucker Woods Rd., Ithaca, NY, 14850. Phone: (607) 254-2443. email: twg3@cornell.edu