Do we have any birders here ?

[Sloughfoot]

Watched them and ospreys pick fish from the water several times on one of the local lakes. Most of us are not above partaking in an easy meal either.

We have Osprey fishing the river behind the house occasionally. It's pretty cool seeing them hover then corkscrew when they dive.

 

[Duane(Pa)]

eagles are scavengers

To their detriment. They ingest lead from projectiles and tackle, then die a slow agonizing death. Sad, like av8or says, they were quite rare in the past (lower 48)

 

[Sloughfoot]

To their detriment. They ingest lead from projectiles and tackle, then die a slow agonizing death. Sad, like av8or says, they were quite rare in the past (lower 48)

Vast majority of sick eagles getting rehabbed have lead poisoning. The states that don't allow hunting with lead have much less lead poisoning among eagles and other scavengers.

 

[Angore]

Just in from the SPCA .

 

[Eduardo K]

Vast majority of sick eagles getting rehabbed have lead poisoning. The states that don't allow hunting with lead have much less lead poisoning among eagles and other scavengers.

I don’t hunt, but I’ve heard that if you hunt with lead, burying the gut pile of the kill will go a long way in keeping raptors healthy.
Im told the acid in the digestive tract of raptors and scavengers is much higher than ours. If we eat game and consume lead, most of it will pass through us, whereas the birds will absorb it all. I haven’t fact checked it, but it sounds plausible enough.

 

[hacskaroly]

I don’t hunt, but I’ve heard that if you hunt with lead

Thanks to California, I went to steel shot years ago. And solar panels, tesla, and recycling my own waste. Also have a rock lawn so I don't have to water it. I am also now fluent in Spanish. Mucho gusto!!

 

[legdelimber]

A rock lawn sounded interesting until I remembered just how danged hot those little white stone/pebble driveways were, when I was a kid.
Not to mention how much weed killer I'd have to use to keep the stones from just getting covered by whatever stuff keeps sprouting.

 

[hacskaroly]

A rock lawn sounded interesting until I remembered just how danged hot those little white stone/pebble driveways were, when I was a kid.
Not to mention how much weed killer I'd have to use to keep the stones from just getting covered by whatever stuff keeps sprouting.

Amen!!

 

[Sloughfoot]

Lawns are carbon sinks.

 

[fredx]

Put ground cover down prior to putting the rocks or what ever you choose to keep weeds from sprouting up- about 99% effective