Back to the wild : Zayed Falcon Project completes fifth year

The release programme took place on the directions of His Highness
Sheikh
Zayed, and with the support of the Chairman of the Environmental
Research
and Wildlife Development Agency, ERWDA, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa
bin
Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme
Commander of
the UAE Armed Forces.

This year’s release is part of a research programme entitled the
Sheikh
Zayed Falcon Release Project, which was first established in 1995.
Involving 37 Sakers and 42 Peregrines, it took place on April
3rd and 4th
in the Gilgit District of Pakistan’s Northern Areas, a remote
and little
developed area where three of the world’s highest mountain ranges,
the
Himalayas, the Karakorams and the Hindu Kush, meet.

The release was organised under the aegis of ERWDA, with support
being
provided by the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital at Al Khazna, part
of the
Environment and Wildlife Management Department of the President’s
Private
Department. Help in Pakistan was provided by the World Wide Fund
for
Nature (Pakistan) and the Falcon Foundation International.

The 79 Sakers and Peregrines, all bred in the wild, had previously
been
used by President Sheikh Zayed and other members of the Al Nahyan
family
for falconry during the winter months. Like all responsible Arab

falconers, Sheikh Zayed follows a practice of releasing most of
his falcons at the
end of each season. As a keen supporter of wildlife and conservation,
the
President now insists that the annual release programme should
be designed
in such a way as to provide as much scientific data as possible,
in the
hope that this will help scientists to learn as much as possible
about
migration routes and the re-integration of the falcons into the
wild.

Seven of the falcons,including both Peregrines and Sakers, were
fitted
with small satellite transmitters, to permit their movements to
be tracked over
the next few months until the batteries run down.

Preparations for the release programme began before the end of
the annual
hunting season, with the choice of the birds to be released. These
were
then placed in tightly controlled isolation at the Abu Dhabi Falcon
Hospital so that they could be checked for the presence of any
bacterial
infection and parasites. Blood samples were also taken from each
bird to
permit full virological studies to be carried out so as to ensure
that
none were infected with viruses. Only birds found to be completely
free of
infection were included in the final release programme, to guarantee
that
there was no chance of infecting the wild falcon population.

To facilitate subsequent identification in the case of recapture
or being
found dead, a micro-chip known as a PIT (passive induced transponder),
and
weighing about 0.1 grams, was implanted under the skin of each
bird.
Carrying a special identification number, the micro-chip can be
detected
by passing a special machine over the bird.

Besides the PIT, each bird was also fitted with a numbered ring
(band) on
its leg. Provided by ERWDA, as part of the Emirates Bird Ringing
Scheme,
each ring has a number and the ERWDA address in Abu Dhabi, so
that anyone
catching a bird in the wild or finding one dead can report the
discovery.

Each bird was then provided with several weeks’ of daily exercise,
to
prepare it for release in as fit a condition as possible, while
the birds
were also fed specially to increase their weight, and thus improve
their
chances of survival during the crucial first two weeks of re-adaptation
to
life in the wild.

Finally, in collaboration with the UAE Ministry of Agriculture
and
Fisheries, the appropriate certificates from the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna,
CITES, were
obtained to permit the birds to be exported from the Emirates
and to be
imported into Pakistan.

One of the most important parts of any release programme is the
choice of
the release site. In deciding upon the Gilgit area, the team planning
the
release took several factors into consideration.

Evidence has previously been collected in the Gilgit area showing
that it
is used as a migration route by Saker and Peregrine falcons moving
northwards in the spring towards breeding grounds in central Asia.
This
evidence was supplemented by information from the 1995 release
in
Baluchistan and an earlier release in the Gilgit area, in 1996.

Another consideration was the availability of water and prey species
for
the released birds. Saker falcons in the wild primarily feed upon
small
rodents and other terrestrial animals in the wild, of which there
is an
abundance in the well-wooded river valleys of the Northern Areas,
as well
as on the higher alpine pastures of the mountains, where spring
begins in
late March.

The Peregrine, in contrast, prefers to take small birds as prey.
Available
ornithological data suggested to the planning team that there
would be a
substantial number of small birds in the Gilgit area in early
April, both
of resident species and of birds on their spring migration northwards.

Finally, there are small populations of Saker and Peregrine falcons
in the
Northern Areas, confirming the suitability of the habitat in the
release
zone.

With the preparations complete, the falcons were flown from Al
Ain
International Airport to Gilgit on April 2nd. Accompanied by
Brigadier
Mukhtar Ahmed, President of the WWF (Pakistan), who also represented
the
Falcon Foundation International, the project team then spent two
days in
the valleys and mountainsides around the Gilgit and Hunza areas
releasing
the falcons.

One new feature in this year’s programme was the active involvement
of
local residents. The WWF-P has a major conservation and education
project
in the Bar Valley, north east of Gilgit, carried out with the
support of
people living in the valley. Two of the birds were released on
the edge
of a Bar Valley settlement, being given a fine send off with applause
from
the villagers. An impromptu meeting was then held with the villagers
to
explain the release programme to them, and to seek their support

While the project team was primarily concerned with the release
of
President Sheikh Zayed’s falcons, another focus of attention throughout

the course of the release phase was the collection of additional
information
about the presence of raptors (birds of prey) and other birds
in the
Gilgit District.

During the release programme, the migration of large numbers of
eagles,
mainly Steppe Eagles (Aquila nipalensis), was noted, with over
700 birds
being counted over Gilgit on the evening of April 2nd. Golden
Eagles
(Aquila chrysaetos) and Peregrines were also found to be present
in the
area, probably all resident, a useful supplement to ornithological
information on this remote area of Pakistan.

All records of these and other birds seen during the release programme,
whether resident species or migrants, will be provided to the
WWF
(Pakistan), for inclusion in the country’s ornithological database.

With data from the satellite transmitters due to be collected
for several
months, it is still too early to determine the full success ofthis
year’s
falcon release programme. Preliminary indications, however, are
that
valuable new information will be collected on migration patterns
of Saker
and Peregrine falcons, while the released birds will also, of
course,
provide a valuable addition of numbers to the existing wild population.

“As this programme continues , I am confident that it will make
a major
contribution to scientific knowledge about these falcons,” says
His
Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s Minister
of State
for Foreign Affairs, who is also the ERWDA Deputy Chairman.

“We continue to develop our knowledge about where and when to
release
birds in such a way as to give them the best chance of surviving.
We are also
learning more each year about the extent to which the birds need
to be
prepared before they are released. The data that has already been

collected is now providing useful information about the migration
routes of the
falcons that are released. This has helped us to identify the
areas of
greatest importance for the species, and ERWDA is now actively
developing
its collaboration with the wildlife authorities in the countries

concerned, so that we may jointly work towards a strategy for
the conservation of these magnificent birds,” Sheikh Hamdan said.

‘For centuries, falcons and falconry have played an essential
part in our
culture and heritage,” Sheikh Hamdan added. “Today , when wildlife
everywhere is under pressure, it is only through research and
conservation
programmes like this, conducted in collaboration with scientists
and
research and conservation institutions in other countries, that
we can
aspire to preserve both falcons in the wild and their place in
our
culture.”

The first release programme for President Sheikh Zayed’s falcons
took
place in April 1995, when a total of 107 falcons were released
in the Kharan
District of Pakistan’s western province of Baluchistan. Succeeding
years
saw releases in the Gilgit District in 1996 and in the Lake Issyk-kul

area of Kyrgyzstan in 1997 and 1998. In all, a total of 398 falcons,
all but
two of them Sakers and Peregrines, have been released during the
five years of
the programme.