Guidance and background information for long-term monitoring of the Peregrine Falcon in South Greenland. Technical Report No. 137

Guidance and background information for long-term monitoring of the Peregrine Falcon in South Greenland Knud Falk, Søren Møller & Nicholas P. Huffeldt Technical report no. 137, 2025 Pinngortitaleriffik Greenland Institute of Natural Resources 2 Contents 1. INTRODUCTION – MONITORING THE PEREGRINE FALCON POPULATION ............ 4 1.1. THREATS AND MANAGEMENT ....................................................................................................... 5 1.2. PROGRAMME GOALS AND MONITORING OBJECTIVES ..................................................................... 5 2. THE SOUTH GREENLAND STUDY AREA AND DATA .................................................. 6 2.1. STUDY AREA ............................................................................................................................... 6 2.2. SURVEYS 1981-2023 ................................................................................................................. 6 2.3. AVAILABLE MONITORING DATA FROM 1981-2023 .......................................................................... 7 3. METHODS – CURRENT PRACTICE AND NEW OPPORTUNITIES ............................... 9 3.1. RAPTOR MONITORING ................................................................................................................. 9 3.1.1. Abundance ..................................................................................................................... 10 3.1.2. Territory occupancy ........................................................................................................ 10 3.1.3. Productivity ..................................................................................................................... 11 3.1.4. Full vs. partial surveys .................................................................................................... 12 3.1.5. Phenology....................................................................................................................... 12 3.1.6. Demographics – ringing, adult turnover, etc. ................................................................. 13 3.1.7. Diet ................................................................................................................................. 13 3.1.8. Prey base survey ............................................................................................................ 14 3.2. USING THE PEREGRINE AS ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATOR.............................................................. 14 4. SUGGESTED SETUP FOR CONTINUED BASELINE MONITORING .......................... 15 4.1. LOGISTICS ................................................................................................................................ 15 4.1.1. Boat-based surveys 1981-2023 ..................................................................................... 15 4.1.2. Future land-based logistics ............................................................................................ 15 4.1.3. Accessing nests ............................................................................................................. 15 4.2. TIMING OF FIELD SURVEYS ........................................................................................................ 15 4.2.1. Survey option A: annual surveys.................................................................................... 16 4.2.2. Survey option B: 2 surveys per 5 years ......................................................................... 16 4.3. METHODS AND TECHNICAL TOOLS .............................................................................................. 16 4.3.1. Nest cameras ................................................................................................................. 16 4.3.2. Sound recorders - ARUs ................................................................................................ 17 4.3.3. Colour ringing ................................................................................................................. 17 4.3.4. Contaminant sampling.................................................................................................... 18 4.3.5. Phenology....................................................................................................................... 18 4.3.6. Prey surveys ................................................................................................................... 18 4.3.7. Diet ................................................................................................................................. 19 5. POTENTIAL ADDITIONAL RESEARCH AND AWARENESS OPPORTUNITIES ........ 19 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................... 21 ANNEX A. IDENTIFICATION OF AGE AND SEX OF PEREGRINE NESTLINGS ............... 26 ANNEX B. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE MONITORING OF ARCTIC FALCONS 27 3 PREFACE The Peregrine Falcon has become a prominent indicator of environmental conditions across the world. In particular, the Peregrine has played a prominent role in detecting unintended side effects of chemical compounds accumulating in the environment. More recently, changing climatic conditions are also reflected in Peregrine populations and the falcons are included as focal species in Arctic Council's Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme (CBMP) for the terrestrial environment. Long-term monitoring efforts are necessary to identify changes and the Peregrine monitoring in South Greenland, initiated in 1981, is rare in its coverage of more than four decades. In line with the 2022 Greenland National Research Strategy, it is now time for Greenland Institute of Natural Resources (GINR) to take over and institutionalise the monitoring – and ensure that the databases and know-how accumulated over decades is available for comparative studies long into the future. Hence, this guidance document aims to support a continuation and possible expansion of the Peregrine Falcon monitoring so Greenland can continue to meet the commitments to CBMP, and maintain a sampling routine to help identify changes in occurrence of environmental pollutants, with implications for wildlife as well as humans on a global scale. The field efforts in South Greenland 1981-2023 have been conducted on a volunteer basis, or as part of Søren Møller’s limited allocation of research time from Roskilde University Library. We are grateful to the numerous dedicated volunteers who over the decades have shared the thrills of observing the magnificent Peregrines as well as endured rains and storms in dinghies on choppy waters or cramped into small tents. 1 The field work has depended on invaluable logistical assistance from individuals and organisations in the survey area, and financial grants from a range of private and public foundations. 2 Lastly, the process of transferring data and know-how to Greenland – and further exploring and developing monitoring opportunities of the Peregrine population – was made possible thanks to a generous support to GINR from Aage V. Charity Foundation 2023-2028. Title: Guidance and background information for long-term monitoring of the Peregrine Falcon in South Greenland Authors: Knud Falk, Søren Møller, Nicholas P. Huffeldt Publisher: Greenland Institute of Natural Resources Date of publication: 22. May 2025 Financial support: Aage V. Charity Foundation Cover photo: Peregrine in its habitat, Qassiarsuk; Knud Falk Other photos: Knud Falk & Søren Møller – www.vandrefalk.dk ISSN: 1397-3657 ISBN: 978-87-94423-10-6 EAN EAN 9788794423106 Citation: Knud Falk, Søren Møller & Nicholas P. Huffeldt (2025) Guidance and background information for long-term monitoring of the Peregrine Falcon in South Greenland. Technical report no. 137, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, Greenland. ISBN: 978-87-94423-10-6 Availability: The report is only published electronically. A PDF-file of the report is available on the institute’s website, http://www.natur.gl/publikationer/rapporter/. 1 See list of participants here: https://vandrefalk.dk/deltagere_eng.shtml 2 See all sponsors here: https://vandrefalk.dk/sponsorer_eng.shtml 4 1. Introduction – monitoring the Peregrine Falcon population The Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) is a crow-sized (0.6 - 1.2 kg) bird of prey with an almost global distribution, only absent in the Antarctic and a range of oceanic islands and “isolated” countries like New Zealand and Iceland (Cade, 1982). As a globally distributed and migratory species, the Peregrine is able to adapt to a wide range of environments, including parts of the High Arctic. For centuries, the Peregrine has been a study object of naturalists fascinated by its distinct appearance and speed during aerial hunts for avian prey, making the Peregrine a widely studied top predator. In particular, the undesirable side effects of pesticides accumulated through the food chain – resulting in eggshell breakage and mortality of adults and embryos – were first documented in the Peregrine (Ratcliffe, 1958, 1970). Since then, this type of research, conducted in many countries, has played a pivotal role in shaping conservation policies and efforts to protect bird species from the harmful effects of pesticides, and turned the Peregrine and other top predators into indicators of environmental contaminants that may have wider impacts, including on human health. Spurred by the pesticide-induced sudden population crash, Peregrine population surveys were initiated in many parts of the world. Some surveys developed into long term monitoring programmes gathering further evidence of local variation in impacts as well as studies of general ecology. Most studies focused on Europe and North America, i.e. the areas where the impact of pesticide effects was most clearly evident, whereas evidence from the Arctic was limited – with thorough data from study areas in Alaska and Canada only. To fill the gap, dedicated surveys and monitoring of Peregrines were initiated in 1972 in central West Greenland around Kangerlussuaq airport (Burnham & Mattox 1984). At that point in time the populations in Europe and North America were at their lowest levels – in some areas they were almost exterminated – but it was soon clear that in Greenland the Peregrines were not drastically affected by the spread of environmental pollutants (Burnham & Mattox 1984, Mattox & Seegar 1988). In 1981, just when peregrine populations elsewhere were beginning to show signs of recovery from the pesticide-induced crash, the Peregrine surveys were initiated in the mild sub-Arctic fjord areas in Southwest Greenland. The study led to a long-term monitoring effort and confirmed that the Peregrine population appeared healthy and maintained normal productivity (Falk & Møller 1988). However, the falcons in Greenland were not unaffected by harmful chemicals. Some of the pollutants affecting top predators (in particular DDT and its breakdown products) cause thinner eggshells that will lead to population decline when the average eggshell thickness becomes 14.5-17% thinner than “normal” (Fyfe et al 1988, Peakall & Kiff 1988). Monitoring of shell thinning became a simple proxy indicator for DDT exposure, and in Greenlandic eggs the average eggshell thickness was around 16% thinner-than-normal in 1972-73. This seemed to have been the low mark; any evident population decline has never been identified in Greenland and the average eggshell thickness has increased ever since (Falk et al. 2006, 2018). The shell thickness is not yet entirely back to normal, though, probably due to some continued DDT exposure in the wintering grounds in Latin America (Falk et al. 2018) or, possibly, emerging impacts of other compounds with similar effects on eggshell production (de Solla et al. 2023). Furthermore, analyses of unhatched/dead eggs collected in South Greenland have revealed a range of other emerging contaminants such as PFAS and brominated flame retardants that occur in increasing concentrations in the falcons and other wildlife and may affect the top predators (Vorkamp et al. 2014, 2018, 2019). These findings have played a central role in recent regulations of the use of such substances via the UN Stockholm Convention (UNEP 2019), and monitoring contaminant levels in top predators remains a key to keeping an eye on environmental contaminants globally. The monitoring project has also established a baseline on the breeding biology of the Peregrines in South Greenland and the emerging influence of climate change, which will be even more relevant in the coming years. The significance of falcons as indicators of the 5 environment has resulted in their designation as Focal Ecosystem Components 3 in Arctic Council's Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme (CBMP) for the terrestrial environment, and according to the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity Monitoring Plan (Christensen et al. 2013), the populations should be monitored in the future, especially in relation to tracking the effects of rapid climate change in the Arctic (Aronsson et al. 2021, Christensen et al. 2013). A review of the status of the two Arctic falcon species, Peregrine and Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus), was recently published (Franke et al. 2020), setting the foundation for contributing to Arctic Council’s future coordinated long-term monitoring of the Arctic terrestrial environment. Long-term monitoring efforts are necessary to identify changes and the Peregrine monitoring in South Greenland is rare in its coverage of more than four decades (Franke et al. 2020). This guidance document aims to support a continuation – with adjustments for improved efficacy – so Greenland can continue to meet the commitments to Arctic Council’s Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme, and maintain a sampling routine to help identify changes in occurrence of environmental pollutants, which is important for wildlife as well as humans on a global scale. See a more comprehensive summary of the South Greenland Peregrine population and its role as environmental indicator in Vorkamp et al. (2017). 1.1. Threats and management Induced by the pesticide crash, many countries defined management plans for respective Peregrine populations – some of which are still updated in relation to new stressors and potential threats. Most relevant for the Greenland Peregrines, which migrate through North America, are the management considerations of Canada (ECCC 2017) and United States (USFWS 2023). The list of threats of potentially ‘high’ or ‘moderate’ severity in the Canadian management plan includes use of toxic chemicals and climate change; it also includes legal harvest for falconry and poaching as threats with ‘low’ severity. In North America, harvesting (live capturing) juvenile Peregrines for falconry has been legal since 2007; current annual take is less than around 150 birds but the USFWS (2023) re-assessment of sustainable harvest suggest that up to 1324 juvenile falcons from the northern distribution range (mainly the Arctic) could be warranted. Since the harvest in North America includes Greenlandic Peregrines on migration, monitoring of the occupancy and productivity of the Greenland population can help provide valuable inputs to any future revisions of suggested harvest levels along the migration routes. Poaching (stealing eggs or young from nests) is ranked ‘low’ severity in Canada (ECCC 2017); this probably also currently applies to Greenland, although rumours continue to circulate about possible poachers. Globally, the trade of captive-bred raptors, including falcons, is increasing (Panter et al. 2023), potentially creating a risk of stimulating illegal take as recently documented in Scotland (The Guardian 2024). In addition, persecution of raptors could be an issue, as is still the case in Scotland (Hardey et al. 2013). To minimize the future risk of poaching or persecution, all information on falcon breeding sites in Greenland must be kept confidential (see 2.3.). 1.2. Programme goals and monitoring objectives In line with the Greenland National Research Strategy (Naalakkersuisut 2022), and the main goals of GINR, the overall goals of the Peregrine Falcon monitoring programme are to: ● Support GINR’s aim to enhance capacity to monitor avian top predators and transfer data and know-how to Greenland institutions, ● Involve local knowledge and make information available to the public, ● Contribute to Greenland’s international commitments to the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme (CBMP) under Arctic Council. The specific objectives of the Peregrine monitoring programme are to: 3 See https://www.arcticbiodiversity.is/index.php/findings-start/birds and Christensen et al. (2013) 6 ● Monitor and assess current and future impacts of environmental changes – chemical as well as climatic – on the Peregrine Falcon population in Greenland ● Provide continued Greenlandic data to Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme (CBMP) under Arctic Council. ● Continue environmental sampling for documenting changes in contaminants with potential effects on wildlife as well as humans – with a view to support international regulation of harmful substances. 2. The South Greenland study area and data 2.1. Study area The study area is situated between 60° and 61° N in Southwest Greenland. The topography is mountainous, highest (up to around 1900 m) in the east and south, but in the rest of the area peaks rarely exceed 1000 m. Several deep and long fjords divide the area. In spring, the coastal areas are often blocked by the polar drift ice, causing foggy and wet conditions along the outer coast. Many depressions pass South Greenland causing rapidly changing weather conditions with rains and strong winds; foehn winds occur regularly. The climate is low Arctic; eastward from the outer coastal archipelago it gradually becomes less maritime and in the inland valleys close to the icecap may be characterized as sub-Arctic. The vegetation changes accordingly from a thin heather of crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), bog blue-berry (Vaccinium uliginosum) and juniper (Juniperus vulgaris) in the coastal archipelago to dense scrubs of willow (Salix spp.) and 2-10 m high birch (Betula pubescens) interspersed with areas covered with grasses, mosses and lichens in the inner fjord areas and valleys (Falk et al. 1986). This mildest part of Greenland is also the main sheep-farming district where low-lying areas are increasingly (but still small scale) claimed for winter fodder (hay) production and also some vegetables for local marketing. Sheep farms and their surrounding hay fields are either isolated or in small settlements; the majority of the inhabitants are centred in the two towns Qaqortoq and Narsaq, and the two main sheep farming communities Qassiarsuk and Igaliko, and Narsarsuaq Airport – which has been the logistics hub for the Peregrine monitoring programme until 2024. 2.2. Surveys 1981-2023 The Peregrine breeding sites have been gradually mapped since 1979 and the main sources of information have been: ● Records gathered during field work and from local knowledge holders by members of the teams surveying the White-tailed Eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) population in 1972-74 (Ferdinand 1979, Hansen 1979, Christensen 1979, Kampp & Wille 1979) and subsequent investigations by Frank Wille and coworkers (Wille & Kampp 1981); ● Interviews with local knowledge holders, including sheep farmers, fishers, tourist outfitters and guides, and scientists roaming the area (geologists, archaeologists etc.); ● Questionnaire surveys circulated to tourist guides; ● Own observations. The process is ongoing and more sites are still added to the database now and then. The surveys for breeding sites have not been fully covering any part of the general area of operation – there are far too many valleys and coastlines with suitable cliff faces to cover by foot, and helicopter support has been prohibitively costly to apply at scale. Therefore, the project has not been able to determine the abundance of Peregrines within the general survey area although some estimates of local breeding density can be deduced from the data collected. 7 From 1981 to 2003 the project made efforts to visit as many sites as possible, during extended field periods, typically from mid-June to mid-August. In 1985-2003 the programme also included capturing adults to assess turnover of breeders, requiring vast field efforts early in the breeding season. From 2005 the project was redesigned as a "lean" field programme to be conducted annually by 2-4 persons in about 3 weeks. For this purpose, 12 Peregrine sites were selected to be standard monitoring sites that could realistically be surveyed within the 3week period (Fig. 1) – with a focus on identifying territory occupancy, breeding success, breeding phenology, and collecting samples for monitoring environmental contaminants. Since most field seasons 2005-23 have only included the hatching and early brood-rearing periods, the surveys can be classified as ‘partial’ (see below). Figure 1: The mapped Peregrine sites are distributed from the maritime outer coast to the mild valleys in the inner fjords; the main field work has been conducted in the central area and from 2005 almost exclusively covered the 12 selected ‘Monitoring sites’ and from 2024 it is proposed to swap two of the sites (orange) with new sites (blue) to ease the logistics (this change was piloted in 2024). Background map: Google Earth. 2.3. Available monitoring data from 1981-2023 All available information on each of the mapped Peregrine cliffs (Fig. 1) from South Greenland 1981 to 2023 (and a few records from 1979-80) is collated in an SQL database where nonsensitive information is publicly accessible at https://vandrefalk.dk/ringbase/ (Danish interface; the database also contains ringing data on Danish Peregrines). The entire database will be transferred to GINR (see below). The basic occupancy and productivity data up to 2021 are also available at the Zenodo community Arctic raptors monitoring 4 along with measurements of eggshell thickness from South and West Greenland 1972-2019. 4 https://zenodo.org/communities/arctic_raptors_monitoring/?page=1&size=20 8 In the database, all nesting territories are identified by their unique identification number and allocated a validity code – the highest rating (1) allocated to territories where KF/SM have personally verified Peregrine occupancy of the territory at some point in time between 1979 and 2023, while lower ratings (2 or 3) indicate secondary information with various levels of credible supporting information. Each breeding territory include different nesting ledges on a cliff or, possibly, cliff sections in the neigbourhood (Fig. 2). In the database, different labels (A, B… H) are assigned to the known ledges (for most sites) – and new ones keep emerging even after decades of monitoring. Figure 2: Example of a Peregrine territory with different nesting ledges on the cliff used over the years; the maximum distance between ledges is about 1.2 km. The SQL-database consists of six tables containing: ● Sites/territories – including GPS coordinates, with pictures of cliffs and rope anchors, and comments to access each nest ledge (confidential), ● Site records – one entry per visit (date) to each territory with information on number of adults, eggs, young etc. observed, ● Ringing data – all information on each individual handled (adults and young), including mass, age, metrics, ring number; records include data on young too small to ring, ● Egg data – measurements of eggs, when encountered, ● Hatch date – of oldest chick in each nest as an indication of breeding phenology, Detailed data on access is only available for the selected monitoring sites (Fig. 3); the sensitive information on the exact locations and access is password protected at GINR server and only 9 accessible to approved researchers at GINR (and potential collaborators, pending approval from Head of Department at GINR 5 ). In addition to the core database, files transferred to GINR include Excel files with: ● supporting templates for tables and graphics for reporting, ● raw data from prey density surveys. Figure 3. Example of detailed information on nesting ledges and access to one of the monitoring sites available in the central database. 3. Methods – current practice and new opportunities 3.1. Raptor monitoring Below we summarize how the different basic parameters have been recorded in the South Greenland survey area along with suggestions for future monitoring – in line with the most important guidelines and definitions for raptor survey and monitoring, including: ● The Peregrine chapter 6 and introductory parts of RAPTORS: a field guide for surveys and monitoring by Hardey et al. (2013). ● Terminology by Franke et al. (2017). ● Assessing nesting success and productivity by Steenhof & Newton (2007) in Raptor research and management techniques (Bird & Bildstein 2007). ● Recommendations for circumpolar monitoring (Franke et al. 2020 – see Annex B). 5 Sensitive data to be transferred to GINR when processes for long-term safety and institutionalized approval for access are in place 6 https://raptormonitoring.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Raptors-2014-Peregrine.pdf 16 4.2.1. Survey option A: annual surveys In the future monitoring programme, it is recommended to organise one physical visit to each territory and nest during a 3-week field work in mid to late July to: ● Record preliminary breeding success (number of young), ring young and collect any biological samples (eggshells, addled eggs, feathers etc.); ● Mount nest cameras to verify final number of young reaching fledging age later (August) – camera data are to be harvested the following year and used to correct the preliminary estimate of fledging success; in addition, cameras record data on prey delivered to the nest; ● Deploy automatic sound recorders (ARUs) near the breeding cliffs – programmed to start recording the following spring for identifying occupancy in the next season – as a substitute for an early-season field survey. 4.2.2. Survey option B: 2 surveys per 5 years An alternative plan will involve 3 field trips over 2 years: Year 1: ● An occupancy survey during 3 weeks in late May to mid-June; ● In nests where eggs have been laid, mount nest cameras to subsequently verify hatching dates or potential causes of breeding failure; ● A second survey during a 2-week field work late July; unoccupied territories or sites with non-breeding pairs in the early survey can be omitted in the second survey, saving field days. In this survey: o Record breeding success, ring young and collect any biological samples; o Reload the nest cameras with batteries and memory cards (to be harvested following year) for capturing fledging success in nests where young are too small to record fledging success; o Deploy ARUs to identify occupancy the following year. Year 2: ● One physical visit to each territory and nest during a 3-week field work midto late July, recording breeding success, ring young etc. and harvesting data from ARUs and cameras, but without deploying new devices. A relatively late survey, midlate July, may allow capturing approximate fledging success from most nests even without deploying new nest cameras. 4.3. Methods and technical tools 4.3.1. Nest cameras Automatic nest cameras are a well-established method for capturing events in raptor nests, including identifying prey choice (e.g. Robinson et al. 2015, Robinson & Prostor 2017, Henderson et al. 2021). Cameras have been deployed in South Greenland 2017-2024 with good results, providing details on hatch dates, number of young reaching near-fledging age, and prey species delivered to the young. Cheap wildlife cameras 9 have been installed near the nest scrape (Fig. 4b) but due to highly variable physical features of the nesting ledge dictating the camera positions, results have been mixed, and in some nests the outcomes have been poor. For future monitoring it is recommended to invest more effort in optimal positioning of cameras; this may involve mounting cameras on small tripod heads drilled into the rock (cover picture 9 We have been using basic no-name trail cameras (most from jagt-jakt.dk); some failed after a few seasons. 17 on Andersson et al. 2017 provides an example). Better quality cameras, with options for focusing and fitted with Li-ion batteries to last during winter, may also provide better data, including nest initiation behaviour and timing of laying in the cases when the falcons choose to lay on the same ledge in successive years. 10 4.3.2. Sound recorders - ARUs Automatic sound recordings are ideal to identify falcon activity near known nesting cliffs, i.e. to detect occupancy and, potentially, arrival date (or first day with vocal activity) in the territory. This approach was tested in South Greenland in 2023-24 and recordings subsequently analysed in the shareware application Chirpity 11 and confirmed that the method holds potential to become a standard for monitoring of occupancy and phenology: The ARU was set to record from 5 hours in the morning starting 1 May – Peregrine vocalisation was first recorded 7 May, and then every day thereafter until recordings ended 25 June. Recordings also showed that main passerine prey species had arrived before 1 May, except Lapland Bunting which showed up from 13 May. In 2024 nine Audiomoth 12 ARUs were deployed for harvesting in 2025; the “irregular” territories were prioritized but the method should be expanded to cover all sites in coming years. 4.3.3. Colour ringing Colour ringing of Peregrines has not been used in the monitoring programme in South Greenland, but is a classical tool widely used in most other monitoring and research programmes (e.g., Lindberg 1985, 2008, Hardey et al. 2013). Because adult breeders in the area are usually highly defensive near their nest, it is often possible to obtain photographic records of the rings during site visits (Fig. 5) and, in addition, the automatic nest cameras are almost certain to provide readings of the rings. Both methods provide information for studies of demography and dispersal. In North America, a coordinated Peregrine colour ringing protocol 13 has been defined with different colour coding depending on region; the Arctic tundra Peregrines (F.p. tundrius – the subspecies also occurring in Greenland) are fitted with light blue rings, although some local ringing projects do not adhere to the protocol. Using only one ring colour (i.e., blue) precludes organising year-specific colour codes. That means the ring number has to be read to infer age and origin, whereas applying different colour combinations each year (Lindberg 2008) offers the opportunity to age birds at longer distances based on the colour combination alone. In future Peregrine monitoring in Greenland, it is highly recommended to colour-ring all young. when possible. Adhering to the North American protocol with light blue for F.p. tundrius has the advantage that a large batch of rings can be ordered and used for several years – but has the drawback noted above of not being year-specific. Alternatively, a colour ringing programme could coordinate with the Scandinavian Peregrine ringing plan and use “leftover” year-specific colour rings from each year. 10 The technology continues to develop rapidly; Robinson & Prostor (2017) provides detailed advice on considerations for selecting cameras, settings for diet monitoring, mounting etc. 11 https://chirpity.mattkirkland.co.uk/ 12 https://www.openacousticdevices.info/audiomoth 13 https://www.peregrinefalcon-bcaw.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1266 18 Figure 5. Colour ringed adults can often be identified from photographs taken during nest visits to ring young; in Greenland the falcons, females in particular, usually come very close. Photo is a male from Sweden recorded 2 years in a row (2023-2024): combination of blue-over-red on right tarsus and blue standard ring on left tarsus indicates bird ringed in Sweden 2020, and code R3 is the individual bird ID providing information on natal origin: ringed in nest 36 km from current breeding site. 4.3.4. Contaminant sampling It is strongly recommended to continue the long track record of opportunistic sampling of material for contaminant monitoring. The addled eggs are highly valuable for future monitoring of changing contaminant loads, and sampling should be restarted. Samples could be stored at GINR in Nuuk until opportunities arise for chemical analyses and one single export permit to a certified laboratory could be attempted. Collecting eggshell fragments from hatched eggs is a minor extra task during nest visits when ringing young and it is recommended to continue this routine, and to store and measure the samples in Nuuk. ERBF (2022) Advice Hub provides summaries of how to collect samples, and Falk & Møller (2023) how to measure eggshell thickness. Apart from being useful in contaminant monitoring, eggshell and feather samples contain DNA and could be used in demographic studies etc. 4.3.5. Phenology As timing of breeding may continue to change with climate change, it is recommended to collect all evidence of changing phenology, including: ● Maintain the routine of estimating nestling ages as precise as possible by methods summarized in section 3.1.5 and Annex A, including; o Excerpts from Clum et al. (1996) – photo guide for aging young Peregrines – best for smaller young; o Excerpts from the Canadian Peregrine Age-Photo Guide 2002 – best for larger young; o Measurements and metrics for assessing age as listed in Annex A. ● Record arrival time of adults to the territories by means of ARUs and nest cameras, supplemented with local knowledge from residents near some of the nesting cliffs. 4.3.6. Prey surveys It is recommended to continue some sort of prey base survey to keep track of annual and potential long-term variation in the resources available to the breeding falcons. The current practise of simple recording of passerines during hikes to the breeding cliffs could possibly be upgraded to distance sampling line transects (Hawkshaw et al. 2017). That would, however, be more time-consuming and require a larger field team and/ or longer work days. 19 As noted above, the timing of prey surveys is critical to minimize detection bias due to changing behaviour patterns of passerines as the breeding season progresses. 4.3.7. Diet If the use of nest cameras are continued and improved, it provides a good basis for following the prey brought to the growing nestlings. Scrutinizing the many pictures is time-consuming but making use of web-based volunteer assistance, for example through Zooniverse.org, could help select the pictures with potential prey items to check further for species identification. Inviting the public in Greenland to help identify feeding events via a web-based citizen science portal would serve to raise awareness on Arctic ecology, and on GINR’s monitoring efforts. Finally, emerging AI techniques may become available for automated processing of some of the photographic records, including prey items, hatch dates and number of birds/young at different times. To supplement the visual camera records, there would be opportunities to introduce eDNA techniques by sampling, for example, prey remain on the beaks of the young in nest (Bourbour et al. 2024), faeces and soil from nest scrapes etc. 5. Potential additional research and awareness opportunities As data and know-how is transferred to GINR, opportunities arise for longer-term planning and for initiating more ambitious research objectives. This can enhance contributions to Arctic Council's Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme (CBMP) for the terrestrial environment, support the Greenland National Research Strategy (Naalakkersuisut 2022), and meet some of the main goals of GINR – including to give advice based on high quality scientific research and foresee changes in the ecological equilibrium and the development of populations as a result of change in climate and human impact on nature, and advise on measures to protect the environment and ensure biological diversity. Most obvious research and monitoring opportunities include: ● Contribute to national and global monitoring of the spread and prevalence of various pathogens such as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI); ● Explore impact pathways of changing climate parameters on the Peregrines, including variations in phenology and productivity in the food web – from vegetation to top predators – and impacts of extreme climate extremes on Peregrine productivity in relation to habitat, nest site characteristics etc. Ecosystem-based approaches could be expanded based on collaboration with other monitoring efforts in South Greenland, including Aarhus University and GINR’s projects in the area. An ecosystem-based approach will feed directly into Arctic Council’s CBMP-Terrestrial efforts. ● Tracking of Peregrines to map specific wintering locations and migration routes, coupled with biosampling (eggs, feathers, blood) in Greenland, to identify likely sources of main contaminants. ● Provide evidence of habitat use for future environmental impact assessments. This may include mapping of (variations in) foraging areas during the breeding season by means of GPS tracking for assessing main foraging habitats in relation to land use (farming areas, infrastructure, towns, mining etc.). ● Identify demographic parameters in the highly migratory Arctic Peregrine – breeder turnover, lifetime reproduction, dispersal etc.; DNA in eggshells and feathers could be additional tools to apply to supplement classical ringing of individuals. ● Explore seasonal and spatial variation in prey choice by various means; eDNA offers new opportunities to supplement direct observations from nest cameras and prey remains. In addition, there are increased opportunities for information dissemination, awareness raising, and involvement of local knowledge since: 20 ● Improved direct interaction with farmers and other local actors through the shift to landbased logistics, including accommodation, would offer opportunities to share objectives and findings from the long-term studies, and continue learning from local experiences regarding Peregrine distribution, phenology and behaviour. The local involvement could also potentially be expanded in relation to managing ARUs and other devices at breeding sites close to sheep farms and settlements. ● Local authorities, in particular Kujataa Kommunia, have solicited more regular and detailed information on project activities and outcomes with reference to the Greenland National Research Strategy. 21 REFERENCES Anctil A, Franke A & Bêty J 2014. 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