Harry Mok, UC Newsroom
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An auditorium full of giddy 12-year-olds is a rowdy crowd, but when Glenn Stewart walks in, the room falls silent. 一只游隼停在你的手臂上对人有这种影响.
斯图尔特说:“我不知道有多少人能让300名七年级学生保持安静。. "I bring a falcon ….They’re riveted by it."
Stewart estimated he’s spoken to 60,在过去的10年里,通过圣克鲁斯掠食性鸟类研究小组的教育计划,帮助了1000名学生, which is part of UC Santa Cruz’s Institute of Marine Sciences.
"I had a student at UCSC last year, 她说她对科学产生了兴趣,“当我还是一名(高中)新生的时候,这个家伙带着一只猎鹰来到我的生物课上。,' " Stewart said. "I told her, 'Well, that was me.' She didn’t remember me, but she remembered the falcon."
掠食性鸟类研究小组成立于20世纪70年代初,由已故正规欧洲杯买球网站圣克鲁斯分校自然历史名誉教授肯·诺里斯领导, Santa Cruz veterinarian Jim Roush and Brian Walton, the group’s first coordinator. The organization worked with eagles, 猎鹰和鹰,但他最出名的是带领游隼从灭绝的边缘恢复过来.
斯图尔特1973年毕业于正规欧洲杯买球网站圣克鲁斯分校,获得政治学学位. 1976年,他在正规欧洲杯买球网站圣克鲁兹分校校友杂志上的一篇文章中了解到这个鸟类研究小组,并顿悟道:“我需要回到学校做这件事."
He began volunteering for the group, 1977年,他重新进入正规欧洲杯买球网站圣克鲁斯分校,并获得了环境研究学位.
Over the years, 斯图尔特曾在食肉鸟类研究小组和其他环境组织担任过各种职务. 从1990年到1995年,他是爱达荷保护联盟的执行董事,之后回到圣克鲁斯发展鸟类研究小组的教育项目. 2007年沃尔顿去世后,他以协调员的身份接管了该集团.
In Idaho, Stewart tackled environmental issues such as mining, logging and over-grazing of public lands. 他得出的结论是,公众教育在任何保护工作中都起着重要作用.
“在爱达荷州,人们几乎把获取自然资源视为一种权利,而没有真正考虑到未来," Stewart said. “当我回到圣克鲁斯,看到有机会做更多的公共教育时,这就是背景."
DDT, 这是一种在1972年被美国禁止之前广泛使用的杀虫剂, 是游隼和其他掠食性鸟类濒临灭绝的罪魁祸首吗. DDT worked its way up the food chain to predators, and the toxin built up in the fatty tissues of falcons, eagles and hawks. DDT blocked the development of eggs, 导致蛋壳薄,容易破裂,幼鸟过早死亡. Populations of falcons, eagles and hawks collapsed.
“游隼的状况说明了环境的健康状况," Stewart said. "It’s a top-of-the-food-chain bird. They reflect what’s going on out in nature."
当掠食性鸟类研究小组开始研究时,游隼已经濒临灭绝:在加州只有两对已知的筑巢的游隼. Today, it’s estimated there are more than 250 pairs in the state. 游隼于1999年被从联邦濒危物种名单中除名, though DDT remains in the environment and still affects birds.
With the peregrines recovering, 掠食性鸟类研究小组的重点正在转向维持它们, and public education is a big part of the effort. In the late 1980s, 游隼巢开始出现在旧金山湾区的建筑物上. The group started making observations, 网络摄像头对准了红木海岸甲骨文总部的巢穴, the PG&E building in San Francisco and City Hall in San Jose.
Oracle, PG&E和圣何塞市与研究小组合作维护网络摄像头. 在孵化和羽翼丰满的季节,一个由志愿者组成的网络看守着鸟巢, when 6-week-old chicks attempt their first flights.
年轻的猎鹰从建筑物顶部的巢穴开始第一次飞行,有时会降落在地面上. 它们没有足够的力量起飞,只能停留在着陆的地方, which is usually the street or sidewalk. 训练有素的志愿者会监视巢穴,将猎鹰围起来,并把它装进盒子里,然后带回巢穴.
城市猎鹰的出现引起了公众对自然保护和环境保护的兴趣. 数百人自愿成为猎鹰监测员,来自世界各地的人们观看网络摄像头.
For Ann Greiner, 志愿成为旧金山的鸟巢监测员让她意识到人类与其他物种共享地球是多么重要.
“这给了我一个在城市环境中帮助实现这一目标的机会,”她说.
游隼是一个“惊人的成功故事,有一些非常引人注目的东西," said Greiner, 谁一直在监督和管理旧金山nest的互联网信息组. "I like to see a success story. 当涉及到保护的时候,我们人类似乎没有很多."
Tina Ferrigno, who moderates the San Jose nest’s message group, 赛义德和游隼一起工作让她意识到一个人可以取得多大的成就.
"If you get enough people together, you can effect some change. It starts with one," Ferrigno said. “你真的可以制定一个有效的计划,潜在地帮助鸟类或任何你想帮助的东西."
Viewers from 38 U.S. states and 21 countries looked at the San Jose nest Web cam in 2008, 来自全国各地和欧洲的人们都来亲自参观这些鸟巢, according to Evet Loewen, who’s helped coordinate the City Hall volunteer falcon watchers. (San Jose nest discussion group) (Oracle nest discussion group)
“这远远超出了我的想象,”罗文说. "I knew it would be a good thing locally. I didn’t understand that it would expand far beyond that."
Stewart said that for years, 只有研究人员对观察鸟巢之类的事情感兴趣.
"Now everyone gets a thrill out of it. 就连圣何塞市政厅的一名建筑工人也说, "It doesn’t get any better than this!"
"That just really tickles me," Stewart said.