Local researcher keeps an eye on fastest falcon

Snowbirds of Bigfork are starting to make their way back to their summer homes, and a pair of Peregrine Falcons who live in the area just got back a few weeks ago themselves to the delight of the wildlife biologists who have been studying the birds for the past two years.

Byron Crow, the executive director of the Montana Raptor Institute for Research and Education, has been leading a study of these birds using noninvasive monitoring equipment in their natural habitat. This species of birds, which was rarely found west of the Mississippi in the '80s and '90s, bears particular interest because it is an indicator species. Indicator species, such as killer whales and grizzly bears, are animals that are on the top of the food chain and therefore are affected the most when damage is being done to the environment.

Crow said that he enjoys studying these birds because they are like a mystery.

"People like mystery novels because they like to figure stuff out," he said. "These birds are a mystery especially because you're talking about something that leaves and comes back each year. Plus, I think it's important for us to learn more about these birds since they are indicator birds."

Although the population of Peregrine Falcons has appeared to be increasing over the last decade, Crow was interested in finding out if the population was actually going up or if there was just more man-power being put into studying them. Whether the population had increased or not, he wanted to determine how healthy the birds were and learn more about their behavior in the wild.

"We wanted to see what these birds were doing behind closed doors in their natural eyrie," Crow said.

Peregrine Falcons make their homes in eyries, which are cliff nests, and in this case are about the size of a shoe box, so accessibility is a constant problem for researchers.

But Crow was determined to not let that get in the way. He and one of his crew members, Doug Shoup, searched the Internet trying to find a monitoring system that others were using for similar research. After looking at 97,000 Web sites, all they were able to find were long range images of falcons on buildings and bridges. So Shoup decided to invent his own self-contained system for Crow's study.

The finished product is a camera the size of a thumb that is inserted into a natural hole in a cliff side. There is a small cable attached to it, which runs up the cliff where it is plugged into a hard drive at the top to save all of the images.

"Basically, two crazy guys from Montana that wanted to see how these birds really live and what makes them tick came up with this thing," Crow said.

Although the system works well for their study, there are some obstacles that the crew has encountered. Batteries weighing over a hundred pounds and other bulky equipment must be carried up the steep trail leading to the top of the cliff side. Snow piling up on the equipment is also a continual problem, even during the summer — last year Crow found 27 inches of snow on his equipment in June. The crew also has to keep an eye out for wildlife that could harm them.

The greatest challenge was the gamble that Crow took when placing the camera. After watching the birds and tracking which holes they go into on the cliff face, he waited for them to migrate south in October. Then, before they returned in March, he rappelled down the cliff and installed the camera in the hole that he saw the birds frequent the most the previous year, and hoped they would do the same again. Luckily, they did, and Crow has been capturing rare Peregrine Falcon footage for over two years now.

"We're getting noninvasive study information about these birds that has never been gathered before," Crow said.

While the camera is capturing what the birds are doing inside the eyrie, Crow and his crew spend much of the spring and summer watching the birds outside of their nest. Through the two forms of observation they have studied a great deal about the birds' behavior in the wild.

"We wanted answers to six basic predator-prey questions and what we got was a thousand more questions," Crow said.

Some of these new questions pertain to reproduction. The last two years the female has eaten most of her babies shortly after they hatched. Also, Crow watched this eyrie for 12 years before he started his study and each year the female laid eggs, but he has never seen any of the young return the following year.

Crow is also unsure if it is the same couple who have been living in the eyrie the whole 14 years. Which means they are either different birds or they are getting to be quite old.

"The question is, 'Where are the young,'" Crow said. "Usually 50 percent live to be one year old and they are able to reproduce when they are three years old. By this time there should be birds flying all around the area, but there's not."

Crow has also observed a reduction of aggressiveness and territorial behavior among both birds in regards to intruders, which is uncharacteristic of Peregrine Falcons.

The MTRI is a privately funded research project which receives grants and donations from individuals and businesses locally and across the country. There are about 30 other sites that the researchers keep an eye on, but Bigfork's eyrie is the only one being digitally monitored. It was chosen because it is in a location that isn't easily accessed by people so it won't be disturbed and it is the most productive eyrie in the state.

Crow first began studying raptors in 1999 when he assisted with a study in Glacier National Park. After four days in the rain he decided that he wanted to be a wildlife biologist. After returning from the study he saw a Peregrine Falcon for the first time and that's when he knew he wanted to study that particular bird.

"Everybody knows a falcon when they see it," Crow said. "The Peregrine Falcon is a very tough-looking bird. If they're out flying around, they are the most deadly bird in the sky. It's a cool bird. It's the size of the common raven and it kills other birds twice its size just by stooping down on them."

Crow will be discussing his research of the Bigfork birds, as well as other birds, at Raptor Day from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 25 at The Sitting Duck in Woods Bay. There will also be a clinic for kids to build their own bird feeders. Live music by Jae Hatt will follow at The Duck at 1 p.m., which will also be offering food and drink specials and giving away prizes.