Subject: a sad ending for "red-tails in love"
Date: Aug 20 00:21:09 1999
From: John Chapman - ragweed at igc.org


What a sad turn of events!

I have heard of a few other instances of bird-aside of this sort, mostly
related to gulls.

Speaking of poisoned raptors, I caught a report in New Scientist some
couple of
months ago about some problems with rat poison and raptors in England.
Apparently rats and mice have been developing and immunity to the primary rat
poison used against them (it's been a while so I don't remember the terms
and I
don't have the article at the moment), so they can ingest a fairly large
quantity and still survive. The rodents then run around outside, get eaten
by a
hawk or owl, and the poison kills the bird.

The problem was greatest for an endangered species of Kite (Red Tailed Kite?
Sorry - I don't know my British Isles birds and my memory from the article
fails
me), because it was so endangered, and because it tended to be a bit of a
carrion feeder (thus eating the dead poisoned rats as well).

I don't recall any similar stories in the US, yet.

Apologies if this is old news to everyone.

John Chapman

Seattle