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raptor migration concentra- tion in the world: Veracruz, Mexico. Last fall, some four million birds of prey were counted here, providing some of the best conti- / nentwide estimates for birds of preY.~" i Conservation and education programs I ~.. launched by Pronatura Veracruz are ." also helping ensure that overnight -, roosting habitat will be protected, and that local communities will benefit from the growing throng of birders who are visiting this site. Once the birds reach their winter homes in Latin America, NFWF vigilance con- tinues. When word broke that thou- sands of Swainson's hawks were being poisoned by pesticides intended for grasshoppers in Argentina, our 1996 and 1997 grants helped fund the research and outreach that turned a potential disaster into one of this decade's conservation successes. As millions of raptors make their intercontinental migration, they are always on the Foundation's radar screen-literally. Through a partner- ship with the Department of Defense in 1994, Dr. Sidney Gauthreaux at Clemson University in South Carolina will be tracking birds of prey on the latest generation of weather radars, a unique approach that will provide invaluable information on flight paths and altitudes. This will help conserva- tion and help pilots avoid deadly collisions with migrating birds. While we don't quite provide cra- dle-to-grave coverage for the Western Hemisphere's raptors, our programs do come close. We don't do it alone- we have dozens of key partners that " Details of prnnting b~ Keith Hansen implement the projects we help design and fund. This is how the Foundation does business-proactive conservation across a species range, with all relevant partners. It is an unbeatable approach that is helping turn the tide for our declining birds. Foundation grants have also helped clarify why birds are declining- and how we can help reverse the trend. Traditional bird survey programs tell us what is happening to birds, but not why. Several years ago, David DeSante, a biologist keenly interested in bird population trends, launched an innovative new monitoring program designed to help reveal if declines were linked to problems here on the breed- ing grounds. His program, called MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survival), called for an enormous network of bird banding stations around the continent. DeSante's approach was nontraditional, and he wasn't having much luck convincing agencies and others to invest. In a 1992 grant, we took the chance. Five years later, DeSante has a network of more than 350 stations, mostly run by volunteers. The data they collect is shedding new light on how environmental factors such as A Marshall Plan for Fish and Wildlife droughts affect bird reproduction. In the long run, this will help us distin- guish when variations in bird populations are the result of natural versus anthropogenic causes. Similar monitoring investments were made south of the border to illu- minate critical wintering habitats and to pinpoint priority areas for conserva- tion. In 1990, we initiated research in southern and western Mexico; in 1991, we expanded south with grants in Costa Rica; in 1992, we tackled Belize and Guatemala; in 1993, we began grants to acquire habitat in Costa Rica I and to work with private landowners to initiate affirmative conservation actions on private lands; in 1994, we expanded our baseline surveys to Jamaica and again in Guatemala; and finally, in 1997, we underwrote targeted surveys in Mexico, Hispaniola, EI Salvador, and Panama. In retrospect, the Foundation's grants to DeSante's fledgling Institute for Bird Populations and to Latin American projects were a drop in the bucket compared to the millions of dollars now invested in these programs by the Department of Defense, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA Forest Service, U.S. Agency for International Development, and others. However, we got the ball rolling, and helped Dr. DeSante and others make the connec- tions with the bigger pots of , ~; National Fish and Wildlife Foundation 5