Pere aeus DUB -OmN BU bE TIN ff 
LAST CALL FOR THE BIRDS OF PREY 
by ROLAND CLEMENT 
Condensed from the ‘Blue Jay,’ January 1969 
by Terrence N. Ingram, Chairman 
Hawk and Owl Protection Committee 
(ore raptors fall before the gun today than was true fifty years ago, despite 
much-improved public opinion and better laws in most of the states. This 
because the existence of more guns in the hands of much more mobile 
itdoor illiterates counter-balances the saving that better laws and improved 
ublic opinion have made possible. 
In our prairie states Swainson’s Hawks perching on telephone poles are 
‘ten slaughtered by men who cruise the highways with automobiles and 
2 rifles. Only recently I had a report of 200 Swainson’s Hawks found dead 
- the foot of 200 telephone poles along a short stretch of Kansas highway. 
Walter Spofford has shown that some 2,000 Golden Eagles have been 
10t annually in recent decades. Alexander Sprunt, IV showed that 77 
arcent of a good sample of Bald Eagles reported dead had been shot. Alden 
filler reported that even the California Condor is being shot. 
It has, unfortunately, long been obvious that an important cause of 
iis continuing attrition the birds of prey have suffered is the failure of 
w enforcement, even in those states which have good laws. I will now 
iggest to you that state and federal wildlife officials have also been victim- 
ed by their own success. By devoting themselves almost exclusively to 
Zame species,” i.e., all species with a high reproductive potential, they 
ave deluded themselves that all-important wildlife was being conserved 
y the current conservation program. 
Indeed, all of us have labored under the myth of the predator as top 
og in the ecosystem. Actually, as we see now, the end-of-the-food-chain 
rganisms are the most vulnerable, not only to the gun but to pesticidal 
disoning. What has been happening is that we have—through our con- 
nuing heedlessness—eliminated all the surplus individuals that were the 
dpulation’s margin of safety. In the old days, when one of a pair was 
lot, a new mate was quickly available. Not so today. We know that the 
‘aits by peregrines and ospreys for a new mate at a nesting site have been 
itile for several seasons. Under these conditions, when a bird is shot, a 
air is put out of production. 
_ It is no wonder that populations are declining so rapidly every where, 
ad this is why I consider it realistic, rather than pessimistic, to issue a last 
ull for the birds of prey. The first need is a good law in every state. It is 
2tter to wake up the states to their responsibilities in this area of con- 
rvation, rather than impose federal legislation, though this may be 
acessary also. 
We need, next, a sincere involvement by the various state and federal 
Zencies charged with natural resources conservation. The third vital ele- 
ent in a successful conservation program for the predatory birds is an 
iformed and outspoken public. It is at the local level in every state in the 
nion that these abuses exist, and it is at the local level that they must be 
iallenged and corrected. 
