Tweets, This just came in on my UK bird net and I thought it might be of
interest to some. DM
>
>Hi all,
>
>This was posted on Birdchat this morning by Mark Brazil.
>
>I hope that this is an appropriate posting (no doubt I will find out
>quickly
>if it isn't ;-)),
>I noticed a recent mail referring to the Alaskan steller's eagle, and
>thought you might be interested to hear of a new situation developing in
>Japan with regards the eagles in Hokkaido.
>
>I have written a regular natural history column for the Japan Times (since
>1982), and this particular article appeared on 17 June 1998.
>
>Wild Watch
>Mark A. Brazil
>
>"On a buffeting up-draught of air a massive eagle soars. The air is
>turbulent over the breaking waves where the Okhotsk Sea is confronted by
>Hokkaido's coastal slope, yet the great diamond-shaped wings and tail of a
>Steller's Sea Eagle provide it with a degree of flight control that few
>birds of its size possess. It treats the turbulence with contempt.
>
>More massive by far than a Grey Heron, the eagle's broad wings give it a
>distinct rowing action that readily identifies it at long range. This
>somewhat lumbering flight is, however, deceptive, for this large eagle can
>pick up the pace whenever it wants. I have seen them in pairs and threes
>chasing and soaring, diving and wheeling, stooping and rising with speed
>and grace that would leave shame many other birds. They behave, at times,
>as if they believe that they are not eagles but are giant falcons instead.
>This is by far the most impressive eagle that I have ever seen, and living
>now in Hokkaido again my hope is to one day see one from my window.
>
>Alas, however, I have just seen a Steller's Eagle in a new "light". I have
>on my desk at the moment an x-ray photograph of one of these great birds.
>The x-ray reveals a glittering concentration of fragments and particles in
>the bird's stomach. They look so harmless in a photograph, but they have
>contributed to the death of this bird, and many other birds have been dying
>in the same way here in Hokkaido.
>
>An unfortunate combination of events has placed both of Japan's two largest
>raptors at risk. Long-renowned for hosting a massive winter concentration
>of both Steller's and White-tailed sea eagles, Hokkaido is now becoming a
>dangerous place for them.
>
>A few years ago when anyone asked me where they could see these eagles at
>their best, without question I would have sent them to see the thousands of
>eagles, that were attracted south from their breeding grounds in Russia, to
>spend the winter along Hokkaido's Shiretoko Peninsula. There the migratory
>eagles were able to take advantage of the topography which provided
>sheltered roost sites, the oceanic current which brought migrating fish,
>the drifting sea-ice which provided a secure resting zone, and also the
>waste from the Alaskan Pollack fishery based in the area.
>
>During the last ten years or so there has been a considerable decline in
>the fish stocks in the Nemuro Channel and beyond, and hence the fishing
>industry based along the Shiretoko peninsula has also gone in to decline.
>Now, the resourceful wintering eagles still come to Hokkaido, however they
>disperse far more widely than ever before in search of prey. Large numbers
>now gather during winter, around Lake Furen in south-east Hokkaido for
>example. There they have learned to feed on the bycatch discarded by
>fishermen who set nets beneath the lake ice. Many more eagles have headed
>in land to the west, particularly to the mountains in the Akan Volcano
>region.
>
>While it has been a tough decade for fish stocks, not all animals have been
>in decline. Benefiting from a combination of plentiful food, and perhaps
>from a series of mild winters, the numbers of Sika Deer have been steadily
>increasing for years, and in some areas the population growth has been
>rapid. During the 1980s it was typical to watch the eagles over and on
>the floating sea-ice adrift in the Nemuro Channel, there, on the ice they
>would rest to consume their catch of fish. Now, however, sea eagles are
>more likely to be encountered soaring far inland in search of carrion, or
>even gathering in a flock around a deer carcass in the mountains. I have
>watched as an impressive array of eagles of various ages, and ravens, have
>gathered on the lake ice to take advantage of the demise of deer that have
>fallen down the steep inner cliffs of the Mashu caldera. Despite the
>decline in their usual fish prey, with the deer population increasing
>things didn't look at all bad for the eagles of Hokkaido.
>
>Alas a macabre, and very sobering, twist to the tale of the eagles the fish
>and the deer has recently been uncovered by three Hokkaido-based vets.
>
>The spring snow-melt this year has revealed some unpleasant sites, not
>merely a litter of deer corpses on the forest floor, but also those of
>eagles. Veterinarians Saito, Kurosawa and Shimura, using x-rays and
>autopsies, have revealed that the recent flurry of sick and dead eagles
>brought in to them during the first five months of 1998 have died as a
>result of suffering severe lead poisoning.
>
>As the Sika Deer population in Hokkaido increased, so did the demands for
>an open hunting season on them. In 1996 a season for hunting females was
>established and, as a result, more deer are being shot. Perhaps it would
>be more accurate to say "shot at". It seems that very many deer are
>injured, but are not recovered by hunters. The lead bullets and large lead
>pellets used by deer hunters here burst and fragment easily on impact,
>causing extensive wounding. These wounds, provide the easiest access
>points to the carcasses for the eagles, unfortunately they are also the
>sites where lead fragments are most likely to be concentrated, and thus
>most likely to be accidentally ingested by the eagles.
>
>At least seven Steller's and three White-tailed sea eagles are considered
>by Saito, Kurosawa and Shimura to have died from lead poisoning in eastern
>Hokkaido in the last year, and autopsies indicate that in most of these
>cases ingested lead pellets or fragments of rifle bullets were the source
>of the poisoning. Final diagnosis was confirmed when the concentration of
>lead in the eagles' organs was found to far exceed accepted background
>values. They fear that as the problem becomes more widely recognised many
>more cases may come to light that have not so far been recognised.
>Ironically, their x-ray analysis also revealed that one Steller's Sea Eagle
>had been shot and injured by a hunter despite it being fully protected
>under Japanese environmental law.
>
>Lead poisoning has been identified most commonly among waterfowl which
>ingest spent lead shot accidentally along with grit which they use in their
>gizzards to assist in digesting their plant food. I have myself seen
>instances of Whooper Swans suffering advanced stages of lead poisoning at
>Tofutsu-ko also in Hokkaido. Raptors have been known to suffer lead
>poisoning indirectly either by preying on waterfowl that were themselves
>suffering from lead poisoning, or directly by eating waterfowl that have
>previously been shot at and which contain lead pellets. Ironically the
>"wide-open spaces and abundant wildlife of Hokkaido" that are something of
>a play ground for hunters are becoming increasingly dangerous as those
>hunters contribute to heave metal poisoning of the very wild places they
>are attracted to.
>
>Veterinarians Saito, Kurosawa and Shimura appear to have encountered the
>first cases of sea-eagles contracting lead poisoning from eating carrion
>deer containing lead fragments from hunters bullets. Sadly the most recent
>news I have received from them is that there are more carcasses to be
>analysed, and that they too show signs of having died as a result of
>ingesting lead. It seems that we might be just beginning to recognise here
>the first signs of a very significant environmental issue."
>
>
>Mark Brazil,
>Ebetsu, Hokkaido, Japan
>mabrazil at rakuno.ac.jp
>
>
>
>
>Tony Clarke,
>CANARIAN NATURE TOURS,
>C/ Repblica Dominicana, N 61,
>Barrio de Ftima,
>38500 Gimar,
>Tenerife,
>Canary Islands,
>SPAIN.
>
>Tel: +34 922 524291
>Fax:
>E-Mail: clarke at arrakis.es
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