Crystal: Today’s guest is Art McMorris. He came out of retirement to be the Peregrine Falcon Coordinator with the Pennsylvania Game Commission from 2004 to 2021. The Peregrine Falcon was one of the many victims of the pesticide DDT. In fact, it was functionally extinct in large swaths of North America. Decades of unrelenting efforts and thinking outside the box has led to their recovery. And Art was a vital part of that effort.

Crystal: Hi Art. Thank you so much for joining me on forces for nature. It’s so great to have you.

Art: Thank you, crystal. It’s a, it’s a pleasure to be here

Crystal: To start, for the listener who might not know off the top of their head what a Peregrine Falcon is, they are really neat birds. Tell me a little bit about them.

Art: Oh, they are really fantastic birds.

They are the fastest animal on earth in a power dive. They can go. In excess of 200 miles an hour, that’s an excess of 300 kilometers per hour. It’s. And at that speed, they’re tremendously maneuverable. They can twist and turn and do anything they want in the year. And this speed and maneuverability is what they use to catch birds in mid-air because that’s what their food is

almost a hundred percent of their diet is birds that they catch in midair. Wow.

Crystal: That’s super, super neat. So what were the threats faced by peregrines?

Art: Well, like all wildlife, peregrines face many threats in the natural world,such as, the difficulty of obtaining enough food storms, that affect them.

and, predators escaping predators. it’s a tough world out there, but in addition to that, there are many manmade threats development and have. degradation effect peregrines and a little wildlife, climate change, pollution, some Peregrine’s nest in the urban environment on tall buildings and bridges, and there they face additional hazards, such as colliding with glass windows.

Art: They don’t realize that they can’t fly right through there. They get hit by cars. they. Get electrocuted on power lines and so forth and pollution and toxins are a big problem in particular pesticides, such as DDT have been a big problem in the past.

Crystal: So what happened to the Peregrine Falcon in the fifties and early sixties?

well, the story of Peregrine Falcons in north America and actually worldwide in the fifties and early sixties is a story of DDT. Really DDT was developed during world war two for the control of diseases that were carried by insects. And then after the war, it was used widely and almost indiscriminately to control agriculture.

pests. And, it got into Peregrine Falcons through the food chain. So insects that were incapacitated by DDT would then get eaten by small birds that eat insects and then Peregrine Falcons would eat those birds. And so the concentration of DDT built up in the birds. It was thought at the time, the DDT.

Art: Absolutely harmless that it affected, chemicals or biochemicals that insects have that vertebrates don’t have. Well, it turns out that it’s not harmless in peregrines it interfered with many physiological functions. Most notably it interfered with the production of eggshells. So peregrines, laid eggshells that were so thin that they broke.

And the embryo died. So this was devastating for peregrines and also to many other top predators. And these problems were brought out by Rachel Carson in her book, silent spring, which really alerted the public. To these problems with DDT and wildlife, and it led eventually to the banning of DDT. So DDT has now been banned worldwide for agricultural uses, although it’s still used in the tropics for control of insect borne diseases, such as malaria, which are really a very big health problem.

So Peregrine populations were devastated. By 1964, there were no successfully breeding Peregrine Falcons left in north America, east of the Rockies and south of the Arctic. That’s how bad the devastation was. There were none. There, there were none successfully breeding. They could not breed. Wow.

Crystal: That is very intense..

Art: And the only reason that we have Paragon Falcons today in most of north America is, that they have been restored by a program of captive breeding and release.

Crystal: yeah. I mean, you’re right at the time, DDT was truly lauded thought to be safe. I mean, I remember seeing images of people getting sprayed with DDT, like happily playing in it. it really makes me wonder what pesticides we’re using now that will become. Our next DDT , after more research comes out.

I know glysophate has been in the news a lot lately, but, yeah, it’s, it’s quite intense what it was doing to the wildlife populations.

Crystal: Did we know how to breed them in captivity?

Art: At the time, the answer to that is a simple, no. the whole idea was the brainstorm of Dr. Tom Cade, who was an ornithologist and falconer working at Cornell university.

And he started a program called the Peregrine fund. And his bright idea was to breed Peregrine Falcons in captivity and turn them loose. And that’s how we could restore the population. However, nobody knew how to breed Peregrine Falcons in captivity. It had never been done before. Peregrines have been the.

The favorite of falconers for thousands of years about falconers always obtain their, their Falcons from the wild. They did not breed them in captivity. So a lot of things had to be tried. In fact, many people said this would be impossible. Part of the meeting ritual of peregrines is dramatic. Display fi flights, that take square miles of, open airspace.

How can you do this in captivity? So many approaches were tried. It finally worked some of the approaches, including things like artificial insemination, but it worked. And then the next question was since they had been wiped out by DDT, where do you get breeders? Exactly.

Crystal: That was what

Art: I was going to ask.

Okay. Well, the breeders were falconers birds that falconers lent to the whole program. And they got them from remote areas worldwide, actually from areas, remote from agricultural uses of DDT. And in fact, seven subspecies of peregrines were used and, even though the main subspecies found in north America, that was extended. These seven subspecies among them had a combination of characters, which was similar to that of the now extinct subspecies.

And so these characters have been bred back into the, into the population

Crystal: Incredible. And o nce the breeding did start to occur did it just take off like the numbers just increasing. Quickly.

Art: No it didn’t. And in fact, the first releases were pretty much of a disaster. The first releases occurred at natural cliffs where Peregrine Falcons had naturally bred before the DDT era. This is where Falcons Peregrine Falcon’s nest in nature is on high cliff legends, which provides.

Protection for them from predators. So this is where the first releases occurred, but these naive young Falcons, without adults to protect them were easy prey for predators and all of them were lost to predation by great horned owl. So as a result of that, the releases were temporarily stopped and then they were restarted.

But this time they were restarted in cities that had tall buildings and tall bridges, which the Falcon, the sea is artificial cliffs. . And also at coastal towers at artificial towers in salt marshes, great horned owls don’t like cities, and they don’t like the wide open spaces of salt marshes, but these areas provide plenty of food for the Falcons, shorebirds and the salt marshes and pigeons and, and other urban birds.

And the cities. So this is where the second round of releases, occurred. And this time it worked, but still it didn’t take off in Pennsylvania. We got our first pairs of nesting Peregrine Falcons in 1986 and 1987, but it was more than 10. And by 1990 we had five pairs and the whole state, but it took more.

this is from the re this is from the releases from the releases. And this is the first time that they were Peregrine Falcons since actually the last successfully nesting Peregrine Falcons in Pennsylvania were in 1957. So it had been many decades. 30 years. So by 1990, there were five nesting pairs in Pennsylvania, but it took more than 10 years before the five, increased to 10.

Art: And so, so it was recognized. Population still wasn’t large enough to promote growth in the population. So there was yet a third round of releases of Peregrine Falcons into the wild and this time it really started to take off. And that time was about 2005, 2006. When the population really started taking off

Crystal: What a labor of love and dedication to just keep going at it after decades and then failed attempt after a failed attempt.

I mean, that really goes to show how dedicated wildlife conservationists can be. There’s so much heart in what they do.

now you recently retired as the Peregrine Falcon coordinator with the Pennsylvania game commission where you accomplished some incredible achievements for the Peregrine.

I want to talk more about the recovery, but before that, this is actually your second retired. The first time around was after career as a neuroscientist. Can you tell me about that

Art: journey? yes, that’s correct. This is my second retirement and my first, career was doing cellular and molecular biology research in your area of neuroscience.

And it’s actually ironic and a little bit funny because. My love of the natural world began when I was, as I like to say, when I was a toddler from the moment that I was able to stand up and walk and I loved, you know, just, just walking through the woods and, watching the buds open in the spring this was all pure magic to me. So my, my love of nature and the outdoors led me to ironically, a first career studying molecules indoors,

Crystal: amazing. and I recall reading somewhere that for your second job, as the Peregrine Falcon coordinator, you were hoping to work yourself , you were hoping to become obsolete. If I am stating that correctly.

yes, that’s right after I retired from, neuroscience research, then it was my objective to move back outdoors where my love of the natural world started and to work, especially with, with birds and the opportunity to work with Paragon Falcons came up and I took it.

Art: And at that time , there were very few Peregrine Falcons in Pennsylvania. They were endangered state endangered in Pennsylvania. And I told my boss at the time, my objective is to make myself obsolete. And he kind of gave me a puzzled look and said, what do you mean by that? And I said, my objective is to help the Peregrine Falcon population recover to the point where they are secure.

They are self-maintaining and they no longer need human assistance. We can take them off the endangered species list. My work will be done. And, I will be obsolete and I will retire. That’s my objective.

Crystal: Well, spoiler alert, before we get to the end of the episode, he achieves that he achieves that goal.

, before we get there, what skills from your previous life do you think helped you as the Peregrine Falcon coordinate?

well, first of all, was my lifelong interest in the natural world and all aspects of the natural world. Some of my friends commented, gee art moving from research on cells and molecules, indoors to Peregrine Falcons outdoors.

Art: That’s a big switch. Well, I didn’t see it as a big switch because these are all part of the same natural system. And also because. And my, for my whole life, I had been interested in birds. And so I didn’t have to do as sudden study because I had been studying birds, learning about birds, learning about the natural world and natural systems for all of my life, but also , from my life as a research scientist, I was deeply steeped in scientific rigor , and, identifying a fixed goal and then working towards it in flexibility and imagination in approaches, always apply. new approaches being willing to consider new approaches, learning about things that might not seem at first related to the, the topic at hand, but can be brought to apply to it, and to sticking with it.

Absolutely sticking with it, taking lots of different approaches, but sticking with, with it going towards the goal.

Crystal: . I imagine when you first sat down to be interviewed for the job, the person interviewing you, might’ve been a little confused compared to who they’ve probably spoken with in the past.

perhaps I don’t know.

Crystal: Uh,

so back to back to the birds, what was their status when you first heard the. What year was that?

Art: So that was the year, 2004. And at that time there were only 11 pairs of Peregrine Falcons known in the entire state of Pennsylvania.

And of those only two of those pairs were nesting on cliffs were there much more secure than those nesting on bridges and buildings where they’re subject to all these extra habits of the, of the built environment. peregrines had been removed from the federal endangered species list by that time that occurred in 1999, but that was due to good recovery.

In remote areas in Arctic, Alaska and in the mountain west, but recovery was much, much slower in Eastern north America and peregrines were still endangered and most Eastern states and Canadian provinces with only 11 pairs, then the population was really. under threat of going into a tailspin, any big event, which reduced their, their numbers could bring the whole population into a tailspin.

So it was not secure at all.

Crystal: .

What is the status of Peregrine Falcons?

Art: Now then the status is much better than the numbers of payers and Pennsylvania has gone up from 11 peers in 2004 to 73 pairs. As of the end of the last nesting season in 2021, there were 73 pairs. In addition, 22 of these pairs were on cliffs where the peregrines are much more secure.

By 2021, we had achieved or exceeded all of our goals for recovery for four years in a row, the population was secure. It was self-maintaining. It was no longer in need of. assistance. And we were able to remove the Peregrine Falcon from the , endangered and threatened species list in, in Pennsylvania.

or in other words, they were delisted in Pennsylvania. They’re still protected by many state and federal laws, but they don’t need our help anymore. They’re safe. They’re secure. And a wildlife, workers can now focus their attention on other species that need help.

I’m sitting here just wanting to clap and cheer for you.

Crystal: That is, but it was so exciting. , it’s such a good news story because. You more often than not, don’t get that result and, and you guys achieved it after blood, sweat and tears. It’s wonderful. Congratulations. . Within within this time of fighting to get these numbers back up.

Can you tell me about a moment when you had said to yourself, this, this is why I do it?

Art: Well, there were many such moments and as I look back on it, And as I discovered when talking with prospective graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, when I was, doing, running a research laboratory, why do I do the things that I do for me to put my effort into something it has to meet two criteria?

One is it has to be important. And the other is, it has to be fun. Figuring things out, getting things done. That’s a lot of fun. So this has been a true for me throughout the journey of, biomedical research and also throughout my wildlife conservation and recovery efforts, particularly, satisfying moments came whenever I would discover a new pair nesting on a cliff.

Or whether, or when I would follow up on clues that I found from other people to, Hey, this particular cliff looks interesting. Maybe we should look further and I would talk to other people and get a colleagues or volunteers to go and check that cliff. And they would find it. There. And certainly when we re, when we reached the point where the population had recovered and we could de list them, that was extremely gratifying.

Crystal: So when you first started, you said the numbers are really pretty low and , They’ve made such an incredible recovery. Since what’s a lesson that you learn, that’s valuable for others who are trying to recover a species.

the lesson that I learned, is to set a clear goal and then be persistent.

Art: Keep. Work at it. You need to be flexible. You need to be creative in your approaches. You need to be willing to change your approaches as the need arises, to adopt new approaches as, as they become available. And not to be discouraged, there will be setbacks in any endeavor. There are setbacks and in any endeavor there, parts of the job that you don’t like for me, it’s paperwork.

I hate paperwork, but don’t be discouraged. Keep your eye on the goal. And most importantly, don’t go it alone. All of these. Our processes that involve many people. So I would engage my colleagues at the game commission, and I also engaged an army of volunteers towards the end of this process. I had more than 400 volunteers that were helping out by searching for Falcons by monitoring their nesting success.

, And by verifying that the Falcons fledged successfully, so work with other people, most importantly, set a clear goal and stick to it.

Crystal: Now, more specifically to the peregrine., what did you do differently? from. All of the previous decades, what do you think helped most in getting those numbers to steadily increase?

Art: Well, I think that is, what I’ve just described sticking to it and trying different approaches and getting lots of help from other people. And we must bear in mind that the success. Was not , just my success. It was such a success of everybody that I worked with and it was the success of the birds.

We didn’t make more birds. We just help them in their ability to nest successfully and to make more birds and to protect them wherever they were to protect them from disturbance, whether it is man-made disturbance or otherwise. So that they could nest and reproduce successfully.

Crystal: Now what can the listener do? And in order to help either with the Peregrine Falcon specifically, or perhaps in endangered species where they may live.

Art: Well, there are lots of things that the listener can do. And I think the first and most general thing I don’t need to tell your listeners to do, because obviously they’re already doing it.

And that is simply to be engaged with the natural world, to recognize that nature is not something out there. We are all part of nature. What helps nature helps us? What harms nature. Harms us, but your listeners are all already plugged into that. more specifically, that listener can volunteer their efforts.

For peregrines, one can just be aware to their presence, especially their presence at cliffs. If you happen to be out hiking or fishing or kayaking, if you notice summit cliffs, report this to your state wildlife agency, and you can follow up by volunteering to monitor the birds there, to monitor their nesting success.

And, they’re fledging success. Another thing that you can do is volunteer to help as a member of a rescue squad, the most dangerous time, the most hazardous time and a Peregrine Falcons life is the first week after it fletches after it takes its first flight. They’re not very good at flying. They’re not very streetwise and many of them end up in hazardous situations or.

Injured and wherever we can arrange it near buildings and bridges. then we arrange rescue squads that go and rescue these four Falcons, take them to a wildlife rehabilitator, where they can be nursed back to health. And many, many, many Falcons have been saved this way. And that has contributed tremendously to the growth of the population.

And. One can also volunteer to help with a wildlife rehabilitator. Most of these wildlife rehabbers are virtually volunteers. Most of them have day jobs to support themselves, but they are tremendously helpful bringing injured peregrines or other birds and mammals or frogs for that matter to nursing them back to health so that they can be returned to the natural environment.

And these wildlife rehabbers rely very heavily on help from volunteers and also what your listeners can do is go and vote. With all of this in mind, when you go into the voting booth, just be aware of which candidates will support the natural world wildlife conservation nature, which supports us all and cast your votes in that direction.

Crystal: Wonderful. And if I could add, if you’re not able to do volunteer at least know about the wildlife rehabilitators and rescue squads in your area, so that if you do see an injured peregrine or other animal, you can call them and make , those individuals aware so that they can, go rescue the animal and also.

Try to avoid pesticides if possible, because even though we’re not using DDT these days, you never know what we might come to learn about the pesticides we’re using. Art, this has been wonderful. I commend you so greatly , on the work that you have been able to, to achieve and making yourself obsolete in your goal.

Congratulations on that. Thank you so much for all that you do, and you’re making a

Art: difference and thank you to crystal. Thank you for this interview and thank you for all that you are doing, to bring nature to, such a wide audience. Thank you so much for that.

Crystal: For me, one of the most interesting aspects of the success of the peregrine is that it requires the buy-in and coordination of many players who aren’t usually a part of wildlife recovery efforts. I imagine when building operators or bridge engineers were first approached and asked to delay projects because of a few baby birds, they weren’t all too enthusiastic. But I remember back when I lived in New York City. The resident Peregrines were sort of like mini-celebrities. People talked about them with excitement. And were proud if their ledge was the one chosen by a mamma to nest. Now I know that this is entirely different than living with, say, wolves, but what lessons can we learn from efforts like Art’s that can transfer to other species’ recovery projects? Humans are increasingly dominating all landscapes, so what can we do to live in harmony with the animals who were there first?