(Chicks six weeks old)

Eaglet-Naming Contest

Although we’ve mentioned it on the cam page, I also wanted to announce here that we have now started our 2008 Eaglet-Naming Contest. Visit our Contest page for all the details you need to enter, and remember that the window for entering your names is two weeks, so the contest will end on April 26.

Eagle News
The Barton Island Eagle Cam in Massachusetts now has two chicks. Our friend Kimmarie at Falcons and Friends has posted an entertaining video of the first hatch, which you can see here.

Also, our friend Bobby from Kentucky alerted us to the hatching going on at the three-egg nest on the Colorado Eagle Cam. Here’s a great capture of the first hatching.

Raptors and Lead Poisoning

About a week ago, an event regarding a bald eagle came to my attention, and I’d like to talk about it here with the hope of producing some good out of an unfortunate situation.

One of our cam watchers was with his wife near Vienna, Maryland, which is not far from Blackwater Refuge on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He spotted an adult bald eagle in a tree, and at first he thought the eagle looked very old, since the eagle was listless but with no visible signs of injury. He wrote me when he got home and sent me the photo you see to the right. I forwarded the photo to a volunteer with Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research, which is a wonderful bird rehabilitation outfit on the Eastern Shore. Before anyone could go out and look for the bird, a representative from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources brought a female adult bald eagle to Tri-State, and it had come from this same general area, so we suspect it was the same bird.

The Tri-State vet discovered that the eagle was dehydrated, anemic and underweight. The in-house lead test they performed on her was very high, and radiographs showed seven discrete metal densities in her ventriculus (gizzard) and the pellets appeared to be lead shot. The vet started treatment, and they saw hopeful signs at first, since the eagle was trying to stand, but after a couple days of treatment, she died — the poisoning was just too far along.

This sad event brings to light an important issue in the avian world — lead poisoning. According to the website Wildlife Without Lead (which was created by HawkWatch International):

Raptors may scavenge or prey upon birds, mammals, or fish that have been exposed to lead, resulting in the risk of secondary lead poisoning. This became strikingly evident in the summer of 2000 when five of the captively-bred California Condors reintroduced into the Vermilion Cliffs area of Arizona died from lead-poisoning. It is believed they ingested lead shot from a mule deer carcass.

Any raptor species that forages on game animals is at risk of secondary poisoning including Golden and Bald Eagles, California Condors, and accipiters such as Cooper’s Hawks and Northern Goshawks. Digestive acids wear down the leaden material which is then absorbed into body tissues. When lead enters the circulatory system, it mimics the movement of calcium. It becomes stored in the bones and some may be excreted into the feces via the bile. Eventually, concentrations may reach toxic levels causing a variety of problems which often end in death…In many birds, sub-lethal dosages present a variety of symptoms. These include immune suppression, reproductive impairment, weight loss, wing droop, diarrhea, and tissue damage. Many of the sub-lethal problems result in death due to reduced physical performance, susceptibility to disease and infection, and increased predation.

And raptors aren’t the only birds affected. Other birds susceptible to lead contamination include: Common Loon, Trumpeter Swan, Mississippi Sandhill Crane, Canada Goose, Mallard, American Black Duck, Ring-necked Duck, Redhead, Wood Duck, Greater Scaup, Common Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, White-winged Scoter, Sandhill Crane, Great Blue Heron, Common Egret, Snowy Egret, White Ibis, King Rail, Clapper Rail, Herring Gull, Laughing Gull, Royal Tern, Brown Pelican, American While Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant.

As for how an eagle could become poisoned, the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota reports that:

When lead fishing sinkers are lost through broken line or other means, birds such as loons, swans, and eagles can inadvertently eat them. Some birds swallow lead when they scoop up pebbles from the bottom of a lake or river to help grind their food; others ingest lead by eating fish that have swallowed sinkers. When lead ammunition is used in the hunting of large game, and gut piles are left behind or the animal is wounded and dies later, eagles can swallow a piece of shrapnel as they scavenge on the remains of the dead animal.

Although it’s difficult to get accurate statistics on casualty rates from lead poisoning (since many poisoned animals are never found), the Center states that “Between 1980 and 1996, The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota reported lead poisoning in 138 of 650 eagles treated by the Center. Since 1996, an average of 25 percent of the bald eagles admitted to The Raptor Center each year have toxic levels of lead in their blood.”

In 1991, the use of lead shot for waterfowl hunting was banned in the U.S., and just recently California responded to the threat of lead poisoning in Condors by making hunters switch to non-lead ammunition when they hunt big game and coyote in Condor habitat. While both these acts were important steps in the battle to reduce lead poisoning, lead is still the primary material for ammunition used to hunt mammals and upland birds and for weights used to fish.

What You Can Do

If you have a friend or family member who hunts or fishes, then pass along the two brochures provided below to these people. Show them what the consequences of lead poisoning can be and show them that they can make a difference by avoiding lead-based materials. Included in the brochures are tips for finding non-lead products at local retailers.

If you hunt or fish yourself, consider the many species you are inadvertently hurting with your use of lead and make plans to switch to non-lead products. In addition, it’s also important to dispose of the lead products you currently have by taking them to your household hazardous waste facility for proper disposal. Finally, you can help by patronizing retail stores that promote and sell non-lead products.

We can’t do anything now to save this bald eagle that was poisoned, but we can do something to save the many other birds that might die in the future. So take a moment to alert those around you to the dangers of lead, and encourage them to find alternatives that they can live with — and that our wildlife can live with, as well.

Until next time,

Lisa - webmaster
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Tags:
eagles, wildlife refuge, raptors, lead poisoning, Blackwater Refuge