Place and Time

From the OC Register, by Pat Brennon:

The red-tailed hawk showed no sign of injury, but it was brought, weakened and starving, to veterinarian Scott Weldy for treatment.

"This one is real skinny and debilitated," Weldy said as he handled the bird, one of nine ailing birds of prey now recovering at his animal hospital in Lake Forest. "There's competition for eating sites. The restaurants are all closing."

Weldy, who has treated and rehabilitated raptors for more than 20 years, is one of several raptor experts in Orange County who say they are seeing a disturbing trend: bird of prey numbers plummeting, long-inhabited nest sites empty, and far fewer chicks hatching in the nests that remain.

They say raptors in Orange and San Diego counties, and perhaps across Southern California, appear to be suffering a variety of harmful environmental changes that are happening all at once: reductions in available prey, drought, West Nile virus and continuing loss of habitat because of expanding human presence and large, destructive wildfires.

"What we're observing here is an advanced degree of ecosystem decay," said Pete Bloom, who has trapped, tagged and studied Orange County raptors since 1970. "It's quite alarming. The question is, is this natural? Because in 40 years of monitoring I have not seen it look this bad – not across so many species in the same geographical area."

The drop in numbers appears to be affecting almost all raptor species, as well as their prey, and the scientists worry that climate change could be helping to drive dramatic changes in habitat that are harming the birds.