ABQJOURNAL NEWS/STATE: Endangered Falcons Released in New Mexico, By Susan Montoya Bryan/

Associated Press

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE — An effort to reintroduce an endangered bird to the skies of southern New Mexico has taken another leap forward as 11 captive-bred aplomado falcon chicks got the first glimpse of their new home. …

The falcons are the second set being released in New Mexico as part of a recovery effort by the nonprofit Peregrine Fund, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state, federal and private land managers.

Expectations for the program are high since the last set, released in August 2006 on media mogul Ted Turner’s Armendaris Ranch east of Truth or Consequences, went on to produce at least one nesting pair and some wild-born chicks.

Biologists showed off the 11 chicks Friday at the Rio Grande Nature Center in Albuquerque before trucking them south in cardboard boxes to a remote site that straddles the western edge of White Sands Missile Range and state and Bureau of Land Management land. …

After successful reintroduction efforts in South Texas, The Peregrine Fund shifted its focus to West Texas in 2002 and to New Mexico in August 2006.

Those efforts appear to be paying off since nests were spotted this spring in both states.

Biologists were especially excited when they witnessed some of the wild-born chicks leaving one of the West Texas nests, marking the first fledging of aplomado chicks in that area in almost a century.

The Peregrine Fund plans to release more than 100 falcons in New Mexico and West Texas this summer. In New Mexico, another release is planned for the Armendaris, which offers 360,000 acres of grama grass, yucca, mesquite and insects — perfect for the falcons.

The falcons displayed Friday were born in captivity at The Peregrine Fund’s breeding facility in Idaho. They fall under a special provision of the Endangered Species Act.

http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/apfalcons07-07-07.htm