Teresa Michelsen:
>Hope this wasn't too much of a digression!!

Not at all. It was excellent. Though you said nothing about lead
shot :)

Seriously, though, it sounds like lead is low on your list of concerns
(in terms of overall contamination, not the particular scenario of
waterfowl ingesting pellets). Is it because it truly is not of
much concern, or because most of the pellet contamination occurs
in federal and state refuges which aren't part of your personal
domain, and therefore something you've not studied? (Of course,
if the latter is true the former may also be true).

Did you see my note about PCBs, the Columbia River, and eggshell
thinning in bald eagles? Just wondering if you might know anything
about the specifics of that situation (I'd mentioned that the
biologist I heard talk about the situation 3-4 years ago indicated
they hadn't pinned down the exact chain of events that was getting
the PCB contaminants out of the sediment and into the eagles.
Dredging and propwash would both seem like obvious things to
look into, so obvious I presume they had). This was an Oregon
biologist, but I believe Washington people were involved too, as well
as ODF&W. This is the only area in Oregon where eagle pair
numbers and productivity have not met the recovery plan targets.


- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>