The peregrine falcon is expected to be removed from the endangered species list according to a proposal announced today by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, marking one of the most dramatic success stories of the Endangered Species Act.
"Every American should be proud," Babbitt said. "In 25 years, the people of the United States have rescued this awesome raptor from the brink of extinction. We have proved that a strong Endangered Species Act can make a difference. We dont have to stand idly by and watch our wildlife go extinct. We can bring species back. We have proved it with the peregrine falcon."
The peregrine once ranged throughout much of North America from the subarctic boreal forests of Alaska and Canada south to Mexico. A medium-sized raptor, the falcon nests on tall cliffs or urban skyscrapers and hunts other birds for food, reaching speeds of 200 miles an hour as it dives after its prey.
While those nesting in the lower latitudes, travel shorter distances, if at all, peregrines nesting in Alaska and Canada are well known for their long spring and fall migratory flights to and from wintering areas in Latin and South America.
The birds remarkable speed and agility, however, could do nothing to prevent its sharp decline after World War II when widespread use of the pesticide DDT and other organocholorine pesticides decimated populations. The pesticide DDT caused peregrines to lay thin-shelled eggs that break during incubation.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service researchers, learning of studies being conducted in Great Britain on the link between DDT and egg shell thinning, confirmed these findings on peregrines in the United States. Rachel Carson, a former Service employee, helped alert the public to the hazards of pesticides on wildlife in 1962 when she published her book Silent Spring. Ten years later, the Environmental Protection Agency took the historic and at the time, very controversial step of banning the use of DDT in the United States, which was the fir
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