Interview with Bill Heinrich, Peregrine Fund Peregrine Release Project Manager

Why did you start working with the Peregrine Falcon?
I began studying Peregrine Falcons in 1963 when I became a falconer. I took a temporary position with the Colorado Division of Wildlife in 1975 and did survey work attempting to locate active Peregrine Falcon nest sites. We would remove the thin shelled eggs and replace them with artificial eggs. We would hatch the wild Peregrine eggs in captivity, at the original Fort Collins, CO Peregrine Fund breeding facility, and then place the wild young along with captive young in the nests. I began working for the Peregrine Fund in 1976.

What is involved in releasing captive born peregrines? What is your job in this?
I managed the Peregrine Fund's Rocky Mountain/Pacific Northwest Peregrine release program from 1978 through 1997 when we did our final releases. The primary release technique that we used was a method developed by falconers centuries ago called hacking. Young falcons were placed at a release site and fed by humans until they learned to hunt on their own using their natural instinct. At that time, historically, they were captured and trained for falconry. In our hacking program we continued feeding the young for a total of seven weeks until they became completely self sufficient.

About how many babies do you release a year?
Through the years the Peregrine Funds Rocky Mountain Program released well over 2,000 Peregrines. We would often release over 100 falcons a year from 20 or more hack sites in the seven states we were working in, including Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Washington, and Oregon.

How old are they when you release them?
We would place the falcons in the plywood hack box which was three ft. high, four ft. deep, and five ft. long with an open barred front, at 35 days of age. They were released about a week later at between 42 and 45 days of age. By 45 days old they were fully grown and capable of making their first flights.

Are they fledglings yet when they are released?
Yes, they fledge from our hack sites at about the same time that they would fledge in the wild.

What do eyases eat when they are being raised?
They would eat ground up quail until they were about two weeks old. After that they were placed in our falcon breeding chambers where a pair of adult Peregrines would raise them until they went to a hack site at about 35 days of age. The adult Peregrines are fed quail as well.

Is it hard to take care of the eyases?
It is very difficult to raise the young falcons for the first two weeks. They need to be kept at just the right temperature and fed an exact amount of specially prepared food.

What's your favorite part of your job?
I have enjoyed all aspects of my job including hiring and meeting over 700 hack site attendants that we had help out through the years. We always had two attendants at each location. It was also exciting placing the hack boxes on the cliffs with helicopters. My favorite part was returning to the release sites the following spring to find a pair of Peregrines actually nesting there. This always was a positive sign that the program was a success. My favorite part of all was seeing the Peregrine Falcon removed from the endangered species list in August of 1999.

Is there anything else interesting that you would like to share?
I am now managing our California Condor and Aplomado Falcon release programs. I am confident that they will both be as successful as the Peregrine restoration has been as long as people such as yourselves continue to care about our environment and the other animals that we share it with.

You obviously enjoyed helping save the peregrine falcon. It's great that such wonderful birds are still here. We wish you success with your new project.

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