At 12:10 PM 2/4/98 -0800, Martin J. Muller wrote:

>Apparently I missed an article about a viral disease killing American Coots
>and Bald Eagles feeding on dead coots.

>The Bald Eagles at Green Lake (Seattle) have been eating several dead coots
>floating around the lake these past two weeks (I also took two dead coots to
>the Burke).

Thus far, it's limited to an area which lies far east of us (mid-West,
southeast
US? I forget exactly where). They don't know what's causing the deaths,
apparently
it's not viral but an unidentified toxin. Whatever it is causes lesions in
the brain,
which causes affected coots and bald eagles to loose coordination and the
ability to
fly safely. In the case of the eagles, at least, the article I read in the
Oregonian
made it seem as though most are dying as a result of flying accidents.

Biologists are mostly concerned because they don't know what it is - the
numbers
involved aren't high enough to seriously impact the regional eagle
population so
far.

Coots have been dying, and eagles scavenging their carcasses, forever so
there's no
reason to presume that Seattle dead coots are harmful to eagles. It
depends on why
they're dying, and whatever the cause, it appears that there's zero chance
it's the
same as the cause described in the news last weekend.


- Don Baccus, Portland OR <dhogaza at pacifier.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, and other goodies at
http://donb.photo.net