The absence of a peregrine falcon couple from UC Berkeley’s well-known Campanile this January has alarmed a bunch of observers who concern the avian flu has claimed the birds as its newest victims.
Cal Falcons, a corporation that has monitored the pair, Annie and Archie, for years has not seen the birds since early January — a regarding signal, because the birds would usually be making ready to put their eggs and nest, in line with East Bay Regional Parks District wildlife program supervisor Doug Bell.
“She’s a public figure as it were. I can bet people are taking it hard. It’s distressing to us,” Bell stated. “The fact that they’ve gone missing would suggest that something tragic has befallen them, perhaps the bird flu.”
Peregrine falcons are the quickest animals on this planet, reaching speeds as much as 240 miles per hour when dive bombing after prey. However the raptors are notoriously delicate to environmental adjustments. Their inhabitants as soon as existed throughout North America, however the prolific use of pesticides corresponding to DDT starting within the Forties brought about eggshell thinning and embryo deaths, in line with a 1989 report by the California Division of Fish and Wildlife. Peregrine falcons ceased to exist east of the Mississippi River, and solely two pairs existed in California within the early Seventies, in line with East Bay Regional Parks.
In probably the most profitable conservation efforts in American historical past, the Environmental Safety Company banned DDT in 1972, ruling that widespread use of the pesticide was crippling falcons’ — along with bald eagles’ — potential to breed. Within the a long time that adopted, peregrine falcon and bald eagle populations have rebounded, and each species have been faraway from the endangered species checklist.
In 2017, Annie the Peregrine Falcon took up residence atop the UC Berkeley Campanile, the world’s second-tallest freestanding clock and bell tower, the place she has raised quite a few broods with varied mates. As Cal Birds waited for her to start out a brand new clutch along with her newest associate, Archie, this January, the pair went lacking. Bell and the opposite members of Cal Birds feared the worst.
“We’ve been responding to other incidents of bird carcasses or birds showing up sick around the Bay Area,” Bell stated. “It would not be surprising that the bird flu could be the cause of our Cal falcons’ disappearance.”
The most recent pressure of the avian flu, H5N1, has been extremely pathogenic since scientists first noticed it in 2022. Greater than 150 million business birds have been forcibly euthanized in an try and mitigate the pathogen’s unfold, in line with the U.S. Division of Agriculture. Wild fowl populations have additionally been hit onerous by the virus, and birds of prey have proven specific vulnerability, Bell stated.
The newest annual report on California peregrine falcons, commissioned by the Humboldt Redwood Firm, confirmed a major decline in territories occupied by the birds for the reason that newest outbreak of the avian flu in 2022. Peregrine falcons occupied 87.5% of their recognized territories in 2021, however they occupied solely half of these simply two years later.
Whereas Bell couldn’t definitively state that the avian flu was the rationale for Annie and Archie’s disappearance, he stated it’s extremely unusual for peregrine falcons to uproot themselves from a territory as soon as they’ve embedded themselves.
“They’re more true to their territory than they are to their mates. It’s in their biology to stay in that same territory,” Bell stated. “They’re unlikely to leave it unless it’s an exceptional circumstance.”
Bell and different conservationists are unable to trace Annie and Archie since peregrine falcons have been faraway from the endangered species checklist in 1999 and due to this fact not topic to trackers that will assist environmental teams monitor their whereabouts. As a substitute, teams like Cal Falcons have served as a watchful eye over the world’s quickest birds.
Even when Annie and Archie don’t return to their hallowed perch above Berkeley, Bell famous that the territory was nonetheless a major location for falcons to name residence. Maybe it might be taken by considered one of Annie’s offspring that lives on Alcatraz.
“In spite of these recent events,” Bell stated, “we’re hopeful that the peregrines will get through this particular epidemic and their populations will recover as soon as possible — because we know their populations can recover.”
