On Tue, 1 Feb 2000 HuhShih at aol.com wrote:

> It really is sad to think that the once great Bald Eagle area on the Skagit
> is now in decline.....(snip) This is of course due to the world wide
> phenonmenon of Mass Extinction described so abtly by E.O. Wilson.



Wow. Bald Eagle in decline. Where am I? Which McDonalds is this? I read a
lot of Tweeters messages and I pay particular attention to raptor abundance
when someone posts a bird list with counts. Bald Eagles are frequently the
most common raptor in these lists. Personally, I see almost as many Bald
Eagles as Red-tailed Hawks. When I am in major shoreline environments, Bald
Eagles are clearly the most common raptor about. They do go where the food
is.

I know there has been a lot written about mass extinction and I don't doubt
the truth of it in many parts of the world (though how would I know?).
However, can a Tweeter name a single Pacific Northwest species that has gone
extinct? O.K., let's make it a little harder. How about a vertebrate species
that has gone extinct in the Pacific Northwest since European settlement?

Kelly McAllister
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife