Curmudgeon

Eagles get almost all of their water from their food. It is a rare thing for them to drink. If there was naturally occurring lead in water, it might contaminate fish - which are eaten by bald but not golden eagles - however, the increase in blood-lead during and after hunting season coincides with bald eagles relying more on scavenging in the cold months and less on fish. Also - unlike mercury which binds with organic compounds - lead does not bioaccumulate. Levels in fish would not be expected to be higher than that of the water. The seasonal lead levels and food sources would have to be reversed for fish to be a major source. The similarities between the two eagle species - with similar levels - and timing both argue against an aquatic source. Then there is the isotopes. There are multiple isotopes of lead. The one used in ammo is the one found in eagles and other scavengers. When examined, copper matching the jackets of bullets also shows up in their blood.

In the other tread Mike started, I just posted some numbers on eagles affected by lead. It is redundant to post them here too. Discussing human impacts always brings out this argument that people have been using lead bullets for years. While all of us probably have some neurons that are lead-damaged, that argument ignores the differences between the behavior of bullets in high powered rifles and older firearms. Slow projectiles do not fragment like high speed bullets. Like Mike said, you will get more lead from small fragments. Their is a large increase in surface area for exposure. Of 20 gut piles that were X-rayed, 50% had more than 100 fragments, 25% had more than 200 fragments. Try to accomplish that with a black powder gun. Human impacts aren't my main concern. I won't feed lead killed venison to my grandkids but I don't object to you guys doing it. Fragmentation being a modern problem, the consumption of large amounts of venison being an even more modern phenomenon, the grinding of meat (which really helps distribute the lead thoroughly) being something that has increased with the advent of small and effective grinders for the individual, the exposure level should be much higher than historically. You guys who don't like these discussion can just leave. This isn't a threat. No one is promoting a ban. The problem is, most hunters out there are not aware of the problem, either for scavengers or humans. They cannot make informed choices without information. Many people make better choices when they understand the issues.

One problem with getting data: most birds that are killed by lead, or become sick enough to die from other causes are not found. We were able to identify one source of lead because we were tracking an eagle. DEC was able to do the same thing with the bird that died last week - but as far as I know, did not enter the property where the bird had been feeding. Peter Nye - retired DEC and one of the people most responsible for the recovery of bald eagles - told me while we were filming that a researcher in the mid-west had documented over 1000 bald eagles affected (sick or dead) over 2 decades. Todd Katzner - a USGS raptor biologist says "Each year hundreds or thousands of bald eagles nationwide become ill from lead poisoning." There is no consensus on what lead level is dangerous. There seems no debate that blood lead above 10 μg/dL is clearly problematic. The bald eagle in video that died had a level of 65 when is was captured by hand. Since the birds are relatively few in number, and dead birds are hard to find, determining the magnitude of the problem requires looking at the blood lead levels of living, wild birds. I do not know of any research of this type on bald eagles in the east. Brian Bedrosian tested 63 eagles of both species in the Yellowstone ecosystem. "The median blood lead levels for eagles during the hunting season was significantly higher than the non-hunting season (56.0 vs. 27.7 μg/dL, respectively;)." See link below - http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/get_the_lead_out/pdfs/health/Bedrosian_and_Craighead_2009.pdf Researchers east and west have been trapping and tracking golden eagles, and testing their blood. I have data on 239 birds, of which 49 are eastern birds. 58% of western birds and 61% of eastern birds were above the 10 μg/dL number. Given almost identical results on goldens east and west, I would expect similar findings with bald eagles - if someone tested them here, their lead levels would be similar to Yellowstone.

I kicked out a bird yesterday that would not leave. I assume she was nesting even though she didn't do a distraction display. It was also in a thinned pine stand - actually, a former Christmas tree plantation of Scotch pine. I've been cutting a few pines each winter for deer food. There is a lot of brambles and smaller hardwoods between the remaining pines.

No one is discussing a ban. It is just education.

Thanks everyone. I have an update on the local eagle in the video - the one being held. It was being GPS tracked by NYSDEC most of the winter. It spent a lot of time at a farm in Delaware County adjacent to a meat processor who cuts up a lot of deer. The bird stopped moving in March, was captured by a DEC employee and put into treatment for lead poisoning (65 micrograms/deciliter blood lead level). Another - dead - bald eagle was recovered from the same property at that time. The GPS tracking indicated the bird had been feeding on an adjacent, posted property that the DEC guy could not enter. It is suspected that the bird was feeding on butchering scraps, possibly put out by coyote hunters. The bird was fattened up, flown for weeks in a flight cage, and was able to catch fish from a kiddie pool. On May 26, the GPS tracking device was put back on the bird. and it was released. However, the brain damage was permanent, and too severe. It never went far and on June 15 totally stopped moving. When someone went looking, it was dead. It died of starvation. The death of the bird is not due to any error in judgement about releasing it. In fact, the tracking device was put back on the bird for the very purpose of judging how well it did. I believe they thought if it was having difficulty, they could get it again before it died. It is extremely difficult to judge how well a bird is functioning while in captivity, and whether it will be able to do what is necessary to survive in the wild.

Rob - People have been feeding the dead to vultures for centuries - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Silence. Western sensibilities find it odd, but why? Why shouldn't the energy and resources of our bodies be returned to the soil. The only reason I can think of is - like other long-lived species, e.g. snapping turtles - we accumulate toxic substances from our modern lifestyle. When you consider the amount of land and energy used to dispose of bodies in a very crowded world, feeding them to scavengers makes sense to me. In India - where Zoroastrians used vultures for this purpose - the loss of 99% of the subcontinent's vultures, due to a veterinary drug that is highly poisonous to vultures, really changed the situation.

The second photo may not be the best from a technical or artistic perspective but it a fascinating behavioral photograph. I love the big blue feet in the first shot of the fledgling. I bet The Conservationist would consider publishing some of these.

If her believing the vultures will kill her cats keeps the cats from roaming, the end result is good for everyone. The wild critters are safer. The cats are safer, even if the vultures aren't a threat.

That is special. The only vulture nest I ever found was also in a barn. Some think they are ugly. I think I want to be fed to them when I die.

Great shots again. The location is a local destination, and I thank alloutdoors for not disclosing it. The birds tolerate a lot but they do get stressed. Increasing traffic is not in their interests. Wooly - I will PM you the location. Tom

I don't think it was bad parenting. I believe in letting kids take risks.

He was willing to give up his career and face prosecution over his objections to the Vietnam war. He was one of the first people who got me to question the conventional wisdom about Vietnam. Rest in Peace.

Great shots and good ID alloutdoors. Hopefully that young bird will get a little smarter as it gets older. Sometimes hawks impact with balled feet, punching instead of impaling, in order to stun. In a situation like this - on the water - it would seem the safer course of action. Impaling the duck might have resulted in the hawk going under with the duck.

They aren't called "cat owls" for nothing. When I read the heading, I thought you had a screeh owl in a wood duck box. That would be good news. Sorry about your loss.

Do not plant Japanese Knotwood which some people call bamboo. It is a horrible invasive. You will never contain or control it. Spruces are a good idea because deer won't do any damage beyond the occasional nip. They will get large and thin out down low after many years. This can be prevented but it requires annual clipping/shearing.

I love spiders. Isn't this beautiful? Scary

Dr. Roland Kays - who did some groundbreaking work on Eastern coyote DNA - has written a very well illustrated book on camera trapping called Candid Creatures: How Camera Traps Reveal the Mysteries of Nature. A camera trap is a baited wildlife camera. This technology has led to some fascinating discoveries. I just ordered my copy. It helps that he used some of our photos from upstate New York. http://www.amazon.com/Candid-Creatures-Camera-Reveal-Mysteries/dp/1421418886?ie=UTF8&keywords=candid%20creatures&qid=1464695426&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Or, like any young male with an excess of testosterone, he may have been displaying just to let the jakes know who was boss. Even one hen in the mix might get cause a reaction.

For anyone who cares about optics, this is a bargain! I own the same bins. I paid $700 in 2001. If I did not own them already, I would grab them. Current Swarovski in that size - the model is obsolete - are around $2000.

Probably an escapee, or maybe a cross between wild and heritage breeds. Given how light it is, I doubt the cross-breed guess. The all white birds are so misproportioned that they cannot normally breed without human help. A big-breasted hen would probably never successfully breed and raise young in the wild. Heritage breeds could do so. My brother raises heritage turkeys. He has had wild birds come into the yard looking for action. A cross-bred bird hatched on a farm would end up in the soup pot with all the others. Not so long ago someone posted a photo of a Bourbon Red breed he shot thinking it was a wierd wild bird..

Oh EAB = Earn a Buck. I thought it was Emerald Ash Borer.

Die thread Die!

Mink and Merg Nice Mallard shot

At least Doc is no longer a moderator. Given his reactionary opinions, it was not the right role for him.