A national conservation area in Idaho is helping prairie falcons thrive despite widespread declines in North American grassland bird populations for about 50 years. The Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in southwestern Idaho has seen increased abundance of the bird species and steady nesting success over 45 years. In a study published in the Journal of Raptor Research, researchers compared prairie falcon (Falco mexicanus) surveys in the 1970s and 1990s with their own surveys in the conservation area. Their positive findings are not only positive news for the bird but for the entire ecosystem, as the falcons are “bioindicators,” meaning their presence suggests a healthy ecosystem. Lead author of the study, Steve Alsup, said he “hopes that outdoor enthusiasts who recreate in the NCA will be excited to hear that at least one of the iconic raptor species the area was established to protect is doing well.”
Consistent, high levels of buck hunting over two decades can limit the spread of the deadly chronic wasting disease. In a study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, researchers analyzed chronic wasting disease (CWD) trends across 10 mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) herds in eastern Wyoming that experienced different levels of hunting. “We found that harvesting a high proportion of the adult males in the herd—around 40% every year for 20 years—is expected to keep chronic wasting disease infections at low numbers,” said Wynne Moss, lead author and USGS scientist, in a press release. Lower hunting rates were associated with higher levels of disease. Researchers noted that hunting is more likely to slow the spread of chronic wasting disease than eradicate it, though. Scientists have found CWD in at least six countries, four Canadian provinces and 36 U.S. states. There are currently no vaccines or treatments for the prion pathogen.
The U.S. Forest Service must cut about 3,400 federal employees as the Trump administration works to decrease government spending and shrink the federal workforce. The move comes following the administration’s “Fork in the Road” program that encouraged employees to resign but remain on the government payroll through September. The cuts will affect employees within their probationary period but the USFS does not plan to let go firefighters. However, the changes that would remove 10% of the USFS workforce could make it harder for the agency to manage federal forests, grasslands and, in particular, enforce wildfire prevention. Employees in probationary periods are often the individuals moving timber sales and mitigating wildfires. Other federal agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Energy and Small Business Administration, are also planning cuts.
Winter ticks can cause moose to lose their fur, stop eating and become weak. For calves, they could be deadly. A recent Yale Climate Connections radio program shared TWS member Steeve Côté’s work testing whether anti-tick pesticides help deter ticks from moose (Alces alces) calves. Only 7% of the moose treated with the pesticide died compared to 40% of those left untreated. But capturing and treating individual moose poses a challenge, as does limiting tick habitat. Yale Climate Connections interviewed Côté, an ecology professor at Université Laval in Quebec, at The Wildlife Society’s 2024 Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Wildlife Society recently joined dozens of other scientific societies and professional associations in writing a letter addressed to the researchers, educators and academics of the United States of America. The letter emphasizes the critical importance of unbiased scientific research, freedom from censorship and policies based in research and data.
We will champion scientific integrity, including academic freedom, the inclusion of diverse perspectives, and policies grounded in scientific evidence.
We will fight to ensure that research funding is stable and predictable, allowing scientists to pursue ambitious research and make meaningful discoveries.
We will work to ensure experts like you have the resources they need to pursue research with autonomy and integrity, including critical datasets.
We will continue to impress on others the importance of science as an objective, unbiased approach to understanding our world.
Readers can access the complete letter and list of co-signing organizations here.
Designated protected areas are likely helping a spotted owl subspecies persist in the southwestern U.S. The Mexican spotted owl (Strix occidentalis lucida), which lives in Mexico and the southwestern U.S., is listed as threatened in both countries. The spotted owl subspecies faces threats of logging, habitat loss and increasing wildfires. Biologists use Protected Activity Centers—or PACs—to protect habitat in owls’ territories. In a study published in the Journal of Raptor Research, researchers tagged the birds with GPS units to determine how they were using PACs in Arizona and New Mexico. The team found that Mexican spotted owls extensively use the protected areas for roosting, foraging and nesting. But the researchers stress that while PACs seem to benefit the owls, forest management needs to continue to be adaptable. “Our research is just a tiny fraction of a collaborative process between governmental, Tribal, NGO and other institutions all working towards the conservation and preservation of this species,” said lead author Dana Reid. “Owls use all sorts of areas, on both public and private lands. Our forest ecosystems are all connected, and we need to work together to manage these landscapes in ways that are beneficial to both wildlife and local communities.”
Electrocution, poisoning, shooting and even drowning have led to an alarming death rate of Bonelli’s eagles in eastern Spain.
Recent findings on the state of these raptors have led researchers to call for further conservation action to protect the birds and their ecosystems.
“The whole population has been declining for several years,” said Andrés López-Peinado, a PhD student studying biodiversity at the University of Valencia.
Bonelli’s eagles (Aquila fasciata) live in coastal areas of the Mediterranean as well as in patchy areas in Asia, from the Arabian Peninsula to Indonesia. In some areas, populations are stable, but in Spain, researchers suspected an unsustainable death rate may be causing declines.
In a study published recently in the Journal of Wildlife Management, López-Peinado and his colleagues analyzed data from 60 Bonelli’s eagles fitted with GPS devices attached by backpack harnesses from 2015 to 2023 in northern Valencia and in neighboring Castilla-La Mancha.
Why are Bonelli’s eagles declining?
Some 33 of these birds died during the research period. The researchers detected deaths through a lack of movement on the GPS devices and brought the carcasses to veterinarians for necropsies. The results of these tests revealed that two-thirds of the dead birds died from anthropogenic causes, while about 27% died from natural causes—all but one, which succumbed to disease, died from predation. The final 6%—two birds—died of unknown causes.
Of the birds that died from human causes, the main reason was electrocution on power lines—a problem that has been found to affect raptors in many parts of the world, from Mongolia to the United States. Among the birds these researchers studied, about 18% died from electrocution, while about 9% died from collisions with power lines.
Poisoning was a close second at 15% of the eagles that died. López-Peinado and his colleagues said that these instances were likely intentional, as was the case for the 9% of eagles that were shot. Pigeon fanciers—people who breed and care for pigeons—will sometimes use bait pigeons with carbofurans—a pesticide banned in the U.S. and many parts of Europe—smeared on their plumage to remove eagles they perceive as a threat from the area. When eagles prey on the pigeons, they become poisoned. All three shootings occurred outside of the hunting season for other birds, during a time when firearms weren’t allowed in the area.
“Intentional persecution of Bonelli’s eagles and raptors, in general, is far from being eradicated in eastern Spain,” the authors wrote in the study.
Bonelli’s eagle have a large distribution, including in India, as this bird pictured. Credit: Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan
Will Bonelli’s eagles go extinct in parts of Spain?
The researchers calculated what this level of deaths means for the population in this area. They found that if mortality continues at this rate, there is a 99.2% chance that the birds will be extirpated from the area in the next 100 years.
“The risk of losing that small population—if we are not depending on immigrants—is almost 100%,” López-Peinado said. As a result of this research, the province of Valencia has listed the eagle as endangered. In the rest of Spain, it’s listed as vulnerable. In fact, he said that the population in the southeast of Spain is the only one that is still doing OK.
Luckily for the Valencia area, immigrants from other populations come in, but the problem remains for Bonelli’s eagles in the larger region.
López-Peinado said that part of the problem is that a lot of the deaths are occurring during the breeding season, which can stop the growth of future generations.
While most people think that this species does better in coastal areas, this wasn’t necessarily the case in terms of deaths. Along the Mediterranean, more eagles died from human causes, while in the interior, more birds died from natural causes.
Another problem is a lack of protected areas, López-Peinado said. Most of the deaths—particularly the human-caused ones—occurred outside of protected areas. The trouble is the protected areas aren’t big enough for these wide-ranging raptors, López-Peinado said, and some of those that exist aren’t well managed ecologically.
How can we save Bonelli’s eagles?
To address this problem, he and his colleagues are currently speaking with the administration of protected areas to implement management. Some improvements that might help the eagles include opening up the forest canopy to give them more areas to hunt, for example.
Other potential measures that might benefit the species include retrofitting power lines to make electrocution less likely. Since three birds in the study died due to drowning in water tanks—they go in for water and have no way to get out—López-Peinado said that building ramps or fencing these water sources off better might also help reduce the deaths from human causes.
“We are losing habitat and increasing the anthropogenic causes of death,” he said. “If we want to reduce this problem, we have to focus on getting a better area for them and reducing the deaths.”
This article features research that was published in a TWS peer-reviewed journal. Individual online access to all TWS journal articles is a benefit of membership. Join TWS now to read the latest in wildlife research.
Federal authorities have three more years to decide whether to list the common hippopotamus as endangered or threatened after a recent court decision. While not native to the U.S., several conservation groups petitioned the USFWS to add the common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) to the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 2022 due to the trade of its parts in the U.S. for meat, leather and other products. As a result of poaching in Africa and other issues, the hippos are declining in many parts of their historical range. A federal judge has now ordered the USFWS to decide about listing hippos by July 27, 2028.
I will preface this letter by saying it is truly intended for all of our Sections, Chapters, Student Chapters, Working Groups and Communities. Your work to provide year-round member support and community at the local level is essential to the overall well-being of our members and the profession. However, I just returned from the Western Section’s meeting in Visalia, California, so the Section is fresh on my mind and in my heart. Wishing you all a Happy Valentine’s Day.
Dear Western Section of The Wildlife Society,
I hope this letter finds you amid a glorious day in nature amongst the beautiful landscapes that you call home. My admiration and affection for all that you and your members do know no bounds, but I write today to express my gratitude for the enlightenment you have bestowed upon me over three short days.
Last week, I didn’t know what to expect as I traversed the country for your meeting. I have traveled to many organization unit meetings before, but this was the first time I had visited with a Section since COVID. I worried about how things might have changed between us. I wondered if it would still feel the same as I remembered. After all, much has changed in the past five years.
As I walked through the convention center doors, I knew something felt different. At first, I struggled to identify the feeling. The event looked the same. The exhibit hall was bustling with traffic, and the members greeted each other with smiles. By all accounts, this was a well-organized, well-attended and well-liked meeting.
The theme of the Western Section’s annual meeting was “a return to natural history.” Credit: Cameron Kovach
Then, I realized something—it wasn’t you; it was me. I had changed. I was nervous. Before COVID, I had unbridled confidence to enter an unfamiliar room with an unfamiliar crowd, bolstered by a strong (but ultimately false) sense of self-worth. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t summon the confidence that once came so easily. What had changed?
Two years of isolation followed by a few more years of remote work certainly zapped me of some social skills, but this felt much deeper. Without regular external engagement, I was left with years of self-reflection. I developed a deeper sense of my values but also a distinct awareness of my flaws and past failures. During this time, I also experienced the profound sense of humility that comes from starting a family, including seeing beyond my ego, accepting imperfection and discovering the full spectrum of daily emotions that accompany watching your children grow. Having my priorities and perspectives shifted meant that my ability to perform was now gone.
With my false bravado stripped, I was left feeling exposed. Though I didn’t expect this, the palpable passion and dedication of your members lifted me to a place of genuine self-worth. I was moved by the kindness and openness of everyone present, and though at times I could sense disagreements, those disagreements never turned to conflict. Your members engaged with authenticity, communicated with respect and rallied around the shared values that united us all.
I left Visalia, moved by what I had experienced. I no longer felt burdened by the weight of external validation but free to embrace my true self and be accepted for it. In the words of your Capstone presenter, Earyn McGee, I felt “brave enough to believe that we have the power to create a better world.” Your work is a testament to the power of collective action and the difference that a group of committed individuals can make.
Please know that your efforts do not go unnoticed. I know I am not alone and that the impact of your work and the community you create is felt far and wide. Thank you for welcoming me. Thank you for inspiring me. Thank you for always moving us forward.
Wildlife professionals and Florida residents have been working hard to remove invasive Burmese pythons that compete with native wildlife for food and habitat. But researchers recently uncovered some ways to make surveys and removals of the snakes more efficient. In a study published in Scientific Reports, scientists compiled data that Burmese python (Python bivittatus) contractors to reveal some patterns. They found that python removals could likely be increased in two regions: the western edge of Big Cypress National Preserve and a stormwater treatment area in Palm Beach County. They also found that surveys were more successful from May to October and that a drop in barometric pressure the previous day increases the success of surveys. In addition, survey periods between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. worked best, and boats helped with survey effectiveness. “Pythons disrupt food webs, altering predator-prey dynamics and reducing populations of key native species. By refining removal strategies, we’re working to give native wildlife a chance to adapt and persist,” said Alex Romer, a quantitative ecologist at the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Science’s Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center and corresponding author on the paper.
