Endangered
Bird week(s) - I've narrowed it down to 2 weeks so I'm going with that.
The biggest threats to these are electrocution by power lines and other problems like that, and loss of prey species. The prey species are going away because they are losing their habitat. Sadly, they are also at huge risk due to poaching. The poachers aren't trying to kill them, they are wanting to sell them to falconers. In 2018 one sold for $42,000! Many of them do not survive long enough to be sold though because they die from stress. Their top speed is 200mph and they are a large powerful falcon with a wingspan of over 4 feet. It is understandable that they would be popular with falconers, and there is a belief that wild caught ones are better than captive bred ones. Supposedly most of those that survive long enough to be sold are ones that were captive bred and then released.
I spent a lot of time today narrowing the 53 birds down to 2 weeks worth. That is as low as I can go right now, and I have a bunch of them still in my "must do later" list. Now I have to finish the commission and then maybe breathe for a minute. Oh, last night while my oldest son and I were outside walking the aggro corgi mix, we had to change our path we were taking because there was a coyote. We were heading down the street to the 27 acre park that is down the street from our house. It is common knowledge that we have coyotes here, but I almost never see them. This one was at the base of the hill watching us. Because our corgi is small, even though the coyote decided to head into the park, we felt we needed to not risk running into it. I carry pepper spray when we go on walks just in case there is an attack from one we don't see until too late. I don't want to ever hurt one, but it would be kinder to it that having to kick it or something and possibly cause more damage. Coyotes are generally shy, but there are times during the year that they are braver than other times because they are hungrier. I would never blame a coyote for behaving like a coyote, but that doesn't mean I won't protect my dog.