We concluded that the conservation and expansion of Aplomado Falcon populations on the Texas coastal plain will require the protection and management of existing breeding territories, and the creation and management of more brush-free savanna. A single pair documented in New Mexico in 2011 was associated with artificial feeding of prey birds. Although 8–10 pairs were present in West Texas in 2009, by 2011 only one pair remained, and none were found in 2012, the apparent consequence of severe drought. Conversely, releases in the Chihuahuan Desert have been unsuccessful in establishing a wild population in either area.
Today, it is almost entirely dominated by farmland and brushland, the latter harboring the Great Horned Owl ( Bubo virginianus), a major predator of the falcons.
Habitat in these areas is extensive open savanna, the ancestral condition over most of the region. The Texas coastal releases yielded two nesting populations: 15–18 pairs near Brownsville and 15 pairs on two islands near Rockport. Most birds will simply refuse to fly under a falcon waiting above for an opportunity to dive at an extreme speed to catch its prey in mid-air.Captive-bred fledgling Aplomado Falcons ( Falco femoralis) were released along the coastal plain of southern Texas (839 birds from 21 sites during 1993–2004) and in the Chihuahuan Desert of western Texas (637 birds from 11 sites in 2002–2011) and southern New Mexico (337 from 10 sites during 2006–2012). While this style is most often utilized in falconry birds where a falcon waiting on the falconer at over 1000 feet in the air has a very wide killing cone and advantage on the prey down below, it is equally effective in controlling problem birds in an abatement situations. This style of flying is called “waiting on” in falconry terminology. Our hybrids are trained to climb to extreme heights and hold their position for very long periods of time. Larger hybrids are normally used in managing larger problem birds, such as sea gulls. There are many color variation possibilities in these types of hybrids due to the three color phases of the Gyr falcon and the sub-species of the Peregrine involved in breeding. This type of hybridization is purely man made with the artificial insemination of the Gyr falcon’s semen into the Peregrine. These types of hybrids are usually larger than pure Peregrines which produces a very robust and powerful falcon. Once they pick their prey, they will pursue it for very long distances and often catch them. Aplomado falcons are like heat-seeking missiles. the Aplomado falcons weed-out those individual birds by chasing them out of the orchard one at a time. Where large flocks of starlings are best managed with larger peregrine falcons, intimidated individual birds sit within the safety of the trees and wait for the larger falcons to go away, and then they either proceed to cause more damage or they attract other birds nearby by calling them in. Their flying style and ability to tolerate hot weather and chasing nuisance birds in the canopy of an orchard where most damage causing birds find refuge from larger falcons, makes them a very important part of our crop protection. Their willingness to pursue anything that moves is so effective and their potency in a direct pursue is extremely remarkable. Their effectiveness became so clearly apparent from early on that we are now hoping to add a few more this year. Last year we added a few Aplomado falcons to our bird abatement team.
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