INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR BIRD PRESERVATION O[ Eachspring and fall, the shootersof Malta in the Mediterranean engageina disastrous C['ICS ritual.Using repeating SHOT FROM THE SKY are thousands birds,while alerting authorities to the firearms,and shooting of MarshHarriers (Circus aeruginosus), activities of individualsorganizing shoot- mainlyfor pleasure, HoneyBuzzaMs (Perhis apivorus), Hobbies ingtours for foreigners(Salathe 1990, (Falco subbuteo), and kestrels--including Anonymous 1991). 16,000so-called theendangered Lesser Kestrel (E nauman- Unfortunately,Malta is notthe only sportsmenslaughter nO--togetherwith hundreds ofindividuals gauntlet Mediterranean raptors must run. of at leasteight other species of raptors Altogether,the region's gunners claim an morethan 10,000 (Portelli1992, Magnin 1985). estimated100,000 raptorsannually Situated in the (Magnin1991). Hunting pressure contin- •* •;'• • Mediterranean be- ueswhen the raptors arrive in Africaas •a' tween Sicily and well,where the birds are dispatched, not so • • '• Libya,the Maltese much for sport, but as agricultural pests • Archipelagoisstep- andfor food (Thiollay 1989). • ping-stoneandroost- And the fusillade takes place throughout • • • ingstop for raptors the world, in spiteof numerouslaws ,.0 funnelingbetween restrictingthe huntingof raptors.Ob- European nesting viously,legislation alone is not enough to • sitesand African win- protectthe birds. In largepart, the shoot- • teringgrounds (Bea- ingpersists--either for pleasureor for man and Galea 1974, profit becauseof thebeliefs and values of Galea and Massa thelocal inhabitants. Only when those 1985). Many birds attitudeschange will the shooting stop. migratoryraptors are shot enteringor leavingBuskett Consider,for example, Asia's Grey-faced Gardens,a forestedsanctuary and tradi- BuzzardEagles (Butastur indicus): Each annually.Many of tionalroosting site. Local breeding popula- fall, hundredsof the birdsare killed while thesemagnificent tionsof PeregrineFalcons (Eperegrinus), congregating at the species' largest known EurasianKestrels (F. tinnunculus),and migratorystopover site in Taiwan'sKenting birdsend up as BarnOwls ( Tytoalba), have already been NationalPark (L. Severinghaus,pers. extirpated(Portelli op. cit., Magnin op. cit.). comm.).The shootersare local residents taxidermytrophies The International Council for Bird forwhom hunting the exhausted and easily placedatop television Preservation (ICBP) andthe MaltaOrni- approachedmigrants represents a long- thologicalSociety are working together to standingtradition. setsin living rooms. promotestronger legislation toprotect the A similarscenario plays out each spring :•' AmericanBirds, Spring 1993 A HoneyBuzzard (left) shot in Malta's Buskett Gardens.Below, mountedOsprey and Honey Buzzard are destined for sale by Maltese taxidermists. qe'" in northwestern South America, where of 15 species-- 27% of Mexico'sdiurnal thousandsof Swainson's(Buteo swainsore) raptordiversity -- wereoffered for salein andBroad-winged hawks (B. platypterus) Mexico City's Sonora market during a migratealong the slopes of theColombian two-yearperiod in themid-1980s. In 1984 Cordillera.Many of theraptors stop over a smuggledshipment of 16 Peregrine for the nightin theCombeima Canyon Falconswith "legal"Mexican papers was betweenCall andBogota. The birdsare interceptedin theNetherlands en route to awakenedby armies of localfarmers who the Middle East(E. Inigo Elias1986). MIGRATING RAPTORS IN JEOPARDY trekto thecanyon's traditional roosting Conservationistsestimate that 100 , sites,where by lantern light they shoot the PeregrineFalcons are trapped each fall in half-asleephawks. theMexican state of Veracruzalone (E. Colombia'scampesinos are motivated RuelasInzunza, pers. comm.) bylocal legends suggesting that killing the Huntingis particularly problematic in birdsadvances the passage of Lent,and the Caribbean,where declines in two thatfatrendered fromtheir carcasses curesspecies listedin the recent ICBP/IUCN everythingfrom arthritis and asthma to RedData Book Cuba'sGundlach's Hawk I ß ,, cataracts(T.Ross, pers. comm.). Regardless (Accipitergundlachi• and Hispaniola's : of therationale, thousands of raptors never Ridgway'sHawk (B. ridgwayO--havebeen completetheir journey. Farther south, linkedto indiscriminateshooting (Wiley sheepranchers on theArgentine pampas 1986,Collar et aL 1992). routinelykill anddisplay Andean Condors Thepervasive nature of theproblem is (Vulturgryphus)andPeregrine Falcons strikingly illustrated with U.S. Fish and ByKeith t. Bildstein, (Ellisand Smith 1986). WildlifeService banding data. Between Likewise,Mexican farmers andlocal 1972 and 1984, more than 90% of the JimBrett, Laurie Goodrich entrepreneurshabitually hunt and kill rap- Ospreysbanded in theUnited States and andCathy Viverette tots,both as pests and for use as decorative recovered as shot birds came from the taxidermy(Ramos 1986). A largelyunreg- Caribbean(Poole and Agler 1987). ulatedtrade in liveraptors also thrives in Althoughshooting and trapping appear Mexico (E. Inigo Eliasand E. Ruelas to bemost severe in developingnations, Inzunza,pers. comm.). Hundreds of birds problemsexist in Europeand the United Volume 47, Number 1 ß39 Statesas well. In Portugal,where taxi- Smith 1973, 1980; Lesham1985) furnish- dermyremains unregulated, 15species of esshooters with predictable and a seeming- raptorscomprised 29% of themounted ly endlesssources of quarry. UNITED STATES animalsreported in a recentsurvey of taxi- Yetthe same attributes that make rap- dermyshops (Abreu 1989). torsvulnerable to shootersand trappers Shootingasa sourceof mortality among alsomake them eminently watchable as raptorsbanded in theUnited States has wildlife(Broun 1949). Migrating raptors dedinedsignificantly since earlier this cen- providean unparalleledopportunity to tury (Robbins1986), yet it remainsthe introducethe public to largenumbers of CENTRN. leadingcause of deathfor post-fledgedthese normally secretive and widely dis- BaldEagles (Stalmaster 1987). In theearly persedbirds of prey. 1980s,between 200 and 300 BaldEagles Throughoutmost of the world,the were killed in South Dakota alone marvelof raptor migrationremains a (Anonymous1983). untappedresource for local conservation- Systematicefforts to exterminateraptors ists.Migration is an extraordinary phe- Raptorsfunnel canbe traced to 17th-century England. nomenon, and it carries considerable throughMexico and Central Historicaldocuments suggest that early potentialfor stimulating environmental America on the crusadesagainst the birds were instigated awareness and concern. way to wintering Raptormigration also offers consider- groundsin South bythe aristocracy, which feared that rap- America. Below torscompeted for game. Initially, all preda- ablepotential as a basisfor development of right, Celombian sustainableecotourism (Robinson and children view a torybirds were targeted (Gensbol 1984); wounded Broad- later,as the diet of speciesbecame known, Redford1991 ). Surveydata from two so-calledharmful raptors--principally heavilyvisited hawk-watching sites in bird-eaters--were marked for control. North America--Pt. Pelee,Ontario, and Today,evidence ofthe significant role rap- CapeMay, New Jersey--suggest net eco- torsplay in functioningecosystems has nomicvalue associated with birding and STILL, THE SHOOTING CONTINUES producedlegislation designed to protect thesebirds. Yet while most, if not all, of the countries mentioned above have enact- edsuch laws, the shooting continues. ASilver Lining?. Eachyear millions of predatory birds travel alongthe world's major migratory corri- dors.A thirdof alldiurnal raptors•more thanhalf of thoseliving outside of the tropics--migrateon a regularbasis (Kerlinger1989). Raptorsare targeted by humans for a numberof reasons.Their largesize not onlyincreases theease with which they can be shot,but alsotheir value as taxidermy specimensor for food. Second, for many, the imageofraptors as fierce predators addsto their allureas trophies. Third, migratorycorridors are often narrow fun- nelsthat concentrate raptors during their travelsand stopovers (Haugh 1972). The dailypassage ofthousands oreven tens of thousandsof birdsat singlesites (e.g., 40' AmericanBirds, Spring 1993 ecotourism in excessof five million dollars andenhance a sites ecotourism potential, persite annually (Wiedner and Kerlinger when appropriate. 1990).The potential economic value of FORGEa global network of conservation- liveraptors seen in migrationcan provide iststhat will useits combined expertise to significantlocal incentive for protecting develop local monitoring, research, and andsustaining raptor populations. educationprograms atselected watch sites. DEVELOPtraining materials, and offer pro- AnOpportunity: Hawks Aloft Worldwide ject internships. Overthe years, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, SPONSOR workshops for conservationists in Kempton,Pennsylvania, hashelped pro- overseeingwatch sites. tectNorth America's raptors by educating thepublic and by developing support for anti-shootingand habitat protection initia- tives(Senner 1984). Historically, conserva- tion efforts like Hawk Mountain's have focusedon singlesites. Although such effortsare often successful locally, many of the threatsfacing migratory raptors-- whichacknowledge noborders--transcend politicalboundaries. At present,very little international coor- dinationexists among raptor conservation- istsworking at differentsites along the world's major migratory corridors. Althoughmost conservationists areinter- estedin protectingraptors