RIDGWAY’S HAWK POSITIONED FOR ONE OF CONSERVATION’S RAREST VICTORIES
TPF Complete Conservation™ Pillar
Evidence to Action Pipeline The Ridgway’s Hawk recovery is a story of adaptive conservation at its best. Every new finding—from parasitic nest flies to rediscovery in Haiti—has reshaped the approach and accelerated the path to recovery. Twenty-five years ago, fewer than 300 Ridgway’s Hawks were counted. They were only known to occur in one small forest in the Dominican Republic, and the species was close to disappearing forever. Today, thanks to long-term support from donors of The Peregrine Fund, this Critically Endangered hawk is close to a rare conservation success: a downlisting on the IUCN’s Red List. A downlisting would be a recognition that conservation efforts have measurably reduced the risk that the species could go extinct. Such an achievement would be a flagship example of how science-driven conservation can work. Supporters of TPF have been part of this journey from the beginning. Your investments helped turn a story of possible extinction into one of the world’s most compelling conservation recoveries. The hawk population has more than doubled and now occurs in four populations across Hispaniola, thanks to the work of scientists, local communities, and conservation partners working together to fight extinction.
A Breakthrough for the Hawks When scientists discovered that parasitic nest flies were killing nestlings, donor support made it possible to identify a treatment, increasing fledging success by 179%. When people were harming the hawks, your contributions helped create an education program that has reached more than 53,000 community members. As part of our partnership with Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), we’ve also created the Women in Conservation Fellows program, hiring and training local women to conduct environmental education in communities. Through this program, community engagement quadrupled in 2024. Perhaps most significantly, steady funding helped create new hawk populations through carefully planned releases. Since 2008, young hawks have been released in several protected areas, leading to a growing number of breeding pairs and hundreds of wild hawks.
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