On Thu, 15 Feb 1996, Christopher Hill wrote:
> Yes, I saw that tape, too. The local agriculturists were spraying
> specifically to kill the Dickcissels. Apparently, about every Dickcissel
> that breeds in North America winters in about 5 square miles down there
> (slight exaggeration). This makes them 1) an agricultural pest in that
> local area, and 2) incredibly vulnerable, as a species. The birds roost
> in reed beds in phenomenal densities, and with a week of spraying, the
> locals can probably wipe out a significant proportion of the world
> population of Dickcissels. According to the film, something like that is
> happening right now.

Is nothing being done to stop this?

How about paying the farmers a really good price to grow the crops, but
let the Dickcissels eat as much as they want? (Kind of a twist on the
US paying farmers not to grow crops.)

David Wright
dwright at u.washington.edu