U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Final Report: Stable Hydrogen-Isotope Analysis of Peregrine Falcons in the United States ...

• Main Authors: Franke, Alastair, Duxbury, Jason, Qi, Haiping, Coplen, Tyler B., Holroyd, Geoff, Millsap, Brian A.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2017
• Subjects: Falco peregrinus, falconry, hydrogen, natal origin, North America, peregrine falcon, stable isotopes, United States; Falconer; Falco peregrinus; peregrine falcon
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.7944/p9msbgdw; https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/641c976dd34e807d39b65459

We addressed a United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) commitment to undertake hydrogen isotopic analyses of feathers (“Stable hydrogen isotope ratios from feathers”) collected from falconer-harvested passage peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) by: (1) developing a map using feathers collected from falcons of known origin, (2) linking falconer-harvested passage peregrines to natal origin, and (3) estimating the degree to which the predicted make-up of the harvest in the USFWS Final Environmental Assessment (EA) was correct (i.e., greater than 64 percent of peregrines originated from high latitudes). The USFWS coordinated the collection of 125 feathers in the United States from known-origin nestlings and unknown-origin passage peregrine falcons from 2009 to 2011. To supplement the USFWS sample, we used existing “Stable hydrogen isotope ratios from feathers” data from a collection of feathers coordinated by the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) ...