California Condor is rebounding.

Celticguy said:
Do you support deer hunting to manage populations?
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Deer hunters don't leave their kill to rot. I don't understand the claim that the lead is the problem? Unless people are simply shooting nuisance animals and leaving them. DDT was used across the country, and nearly wiped out most raptors. Never realized that lead was an issue.
 
signalmankenneth said:
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It's nice to hear good news about a species making a comeback!
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If they didn't exist on carrion, they wouldn't have to be so ugly.
 
Althea said:
Return? Our vultures never leave, and the numbers are near infestation levels. Of course, they play an important role in the environment.
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Our vultures don't winter here, and they are famous for returning to Hinckley Ohio on the same day every year. https://www.tripsavvy.com/buzzards-of-hinckley-752532

"Every March 15 since 1957, the city of Hinckley eagerly awaits the return of the buzzards from their winter hiatus. Around dawn, an official spotter and hundreds of other people with binoculars peel their eyes upward to be the first to spot the buzzards coming back to Buzzard's Roost at Hinckley Reservation in the Cleveland Metroparks."
 
Althea said:
Deer hunters don't leave their kill to rot. I don't understand the claim that the lead is the problem? Unless people are simply shooting nuisance animals and leaving them. DDT was used across the country, and nearly wiped out most raptors. Never realized that lead was an issue.
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https://spectator.org/48925_ddt-fraud-and-tragedy/

DDT did no such thing.

Trophy animal meat does not get left.

Lead is a problem which is why its largely banned.
 
Althea said:
Deer hunters don't leave their kill to rot. I don't understand the claim that the lead is the problem? Unless people are simply shooting nuisance animals and leaving them. DDT was used across the country, and nearly wiped out most raptors. Never realized that lead was an issue.
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Lead shot and lead sinkers used in fishing are a horrible issue for our raptors. Ducks swallow fishing weights and shot on the bottoms of ponds, and are then later eaten by others up the food chain. Deer hunters often clean and gut their prey on site, leaving the entrails which can be peppered with lead shot that fragmented (or from a shotgun). Carrion eaters then ingest the lead. The Chocolay Raptor Center near us had a bald eagle that died from lead poisoning a couple of weeks ago. I was a volunteer when we lived in STL for the World Bird Sanctuary, a raptor rehab center. We lost many owls, eagles, vultures, and hawks to lead poisoning.

Banning DDT was one of the best things we did to save them. We probably should look at banning lead shot as well.
 
Althea said:
Return? Our vultures never leave, and the numbers are near infestation levels. Of course, they play an important role in the environment.
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Depends where you live. Here in the Frozen North, our vultures head south in October or November, depending on when permanent snow arrives. They come back in the spring. The local bald eagles stay all winter.
 
Celticguy said:
https://spectator.org/48925_ddt-fraud-and-tragedy/

DDT did no such thing.

Trophy animal meat does not get left.

Lead is a problem which is why its largely banned.
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You are wrong. And it is still happening.

"After residents complained for years about dead birds in their yards, 22 American robins, six European starlings and one bluebird were collected last year.

"The results, revealed last week: The neighborhood’s songbirds are being poisoned by DDT, a pesticide that was banned in the United States more than 40 years ago. Extremely high concentrations were found in the birds’ bodies, as well as in the worms they eat."

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ddt-still-killing-birds-in-michigan/
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
Aren't those the same ones in FL? Ppl were always angry at them; I think they're smart, interesting, and yeah.... fun to watch.
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I think FL have both as well. They are interesting, I’m sure they can be irritating around the docks if you’re fishing.
 
Phantasmal said:
I think FL have both as well. They are interesting, I’m sure they can be irritating around the docks if you’re fishing.
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I bet! I've only fished with Bird once. It was great for both of us. We had a park in our town in STL with a pond where you could fish. The only fish I ever caught were tiny bluegill maybe 3-4 inches. Sometimes a green heron would join me at dawn. It wasn't my company that he enjoyed. It was the tiny fish I'd flip his way. He must have been a teenager heron because he was a bottomless pit.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
I love watching large flocks of pelicans in flight. Not only are they individually grace on wings, but the entire flock wheels and dives and soars as one organism. Beautiful.
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Fun to watch them! There is a lot to love about birds.

On another tangent, my ornithology class today covered corvids. Super intelligent animals. I am convinced that crows, ravens, and jays are smarter than some of the higher mammals, and perhaps even smarter than some humans!
 
Cypress said:
Fun to watch them! There is a lot to love about birds.

On another tangent, my ornithology class today covered corvids. Super intelligent animals. I am convinced that crows, ravens, and jays are smarter than some of the higher mammals, and perhaps even smarter than some humans!
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Ornithology class? Do share!

You are correct. Corvids and psittacines are among the most intelligent species on our planet. They have more neurons per sq mm of brain than we do. And they know how to use it.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
Ornithology class? Do share!

You are correct. Corvids and psittacines are among the most intelligent species on our planet. They have more neurons per sq mm of brain than we do. And they know how to use it.
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My buddy who works with Fish and Wildlife Service convinced me to take this ornithology class with him. More fun than a barrel of monkeys.
In terms of evolution, these things are really flying dinosaurs.

I think you actually could teach the class, because that neuron density and brainpower of birds is exactly what was discussed today. One test that was conducted with birds is floating a worm on some water in a glass tube just out of reach of the crows beak. The crows were able to easily figure out that if they added pebbles to the tube the water level would rise bringing the worm to within reach of the crows beak.

Wow. That is a level of intelligence that requires thinking three or four moves ahead. I know of some buck toothed hillbillies that would not be able to solve that puzzle!
 
Cypress said:
My buddy who works with Fish and Wildlife Service convinced me to take this ornithology class with him. More fun than a barrel of monkeys.
In terms of evolution, these things are really flying dinosaurs.

I think you actually could teach the class, because that neuron density and brainpower of birds is exactly what was discussed today. One test that was conducted with birds is floating a worm on some water in a glass tube just out of reach of the crows beak. The crows were able to easily figure out that if they added pebbles to the tube the water level would rise bringing the worm to within reach of the crows beak.

Wow. That is a level of intelligence that requires thinking three or four moves ahead. I know of some buck toothed hillbillies that would not be able to solve that puzzle!
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You might enjoy this satire:

https://local.theonion.com/grey-parrot-disappointed-to-discover-rest-of-aviary-a-b-1819580076
 
Hello Celticguy,

Celticguy said:
Turning them off has helped. As has thought being given as to where to place tham rathaer than just throwing them up with tax dollars.
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Do you have documented examples of California Condors being injured / killed by wind generators?
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
I bet! I've only fished with Bird once. It was great for both of us. We had a park in our town in STL with a pond where you could fish. The only fish I ever caught were tiny bluegill maybe 3-4 inches. Sometimes a green heron would join me at dawn. It wasn't my company that he enjoyed. It was the tiny fish I'd flip his way. He must have been a teenager heron because he was a bottomless pit.
Click to expand...
They’re so smart, he loved “fishing” with you. My Jays sit in the trees and squawk at me till I fill the feeder, they have me trained! I got to see a cardinal feed it’s mate yesterday! So sweet!
 
PoliTalker said:
Hello Celticguy,



Do you have documented examples of California Condors being injured / killed by wind generators?
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Here’s an interesting little factoid

Wind turbines kill between 214,000 and 368,000 birds annually — a small fraction compared with the estimated 6.8 million fatalities from collisions with cell and radio towers and the 1.4 billion to 3.7 billion deaths from cats, according to the peer-reviewed study by two federal scientists and the environmental ...Sep 15, 2014

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[h=3]Wind turbines kill fewer birds than do cats, cell towers - USA Today

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