R E K. (bigstone) - , reviewed The Wind Masters : The Lives of North American Birds of Prey on + 1458 more book reviews
What a wonderful informative read! The author is an authority who writes about birds often but this book is dedicated to raptors. So much information is given in a readable style that I loved perusing his words about North American birds of prey. I would read about three or four and set the book aside to think about the information and meld it with my experience and observations. We have coopers hawks, ospreys and kestrals flying through our yards often. However, I'd like to share one particular incident from the discussion about American eagles which nest in our area.
A golden eagle and a raven were dining on a dead deer but the eagle was obviously ill. "The eagle, who was indeed blind (or nearly so) heard the taunts ((of the raven0) but was past caring. Once, the bird's awareness had extended as far as an eagle's eyes can see and as far as her seven-f00t wingspan could bear her. But the death that was in her had constricted the borders of her world.
"Five days agos, the planted death had robbed her of the skies. Three days ago it had reduced the world to the floor of the arroyo. Then it had taken the light out of the world, binding her to the place where for two days she had stood.
"Now death was sending her spirit into retreat...
"The sad saga began on the prairies of Colorado, where several friends decided to kill a Saturday afternoon by popping the residents of a prairie dog town. They used .22 caliber rifles, equipped with 4X telescopic sights and hollow point ammunition designed to shatter on impact.
"They didn't want the carcasses, of course. They were just shooting 'varments.' They also didn't trouble to police the town by throwing the carcasses down the burrows. 'Let the scavengers have them,' they reasoned....
"The young eagle, migration taxed and hungry, had joined the host of magpies feeding on the carcasses. In the process, she ingested several small bullet fragments - most of which did not remain with the bird for long. Along with the fur and bone she ingested, they were cast up as a pellet.
"But for the twenty-four hours that the fragments remained in the bird's digestive system, they released lead, which was absorbed into the bird's system. When the bird contued her migration, she carried the incipient seed of her death inside her.
"Lead poisoning is a progressive degenerative disorder that kills birds directly or weakens them to the point that they succumb to other complications....
"It takes only one ingested fragment the size of the letter o on this page to kill an eagle. The fragments in the bird's stomach were smaller than this. Alone, it would not have brought lead dlevels in the bird to fatal levels. But the poisoned splinter was not so insignificant that the bird did not experience some debilitating effects.
"Bathed by gastric acids, the lead leached into her system and began accumulating in the liver, the kidneys, the heart, the spleen and the brain. Hemoglogin levels began to fall. The bird's gall bladder became swollen, bile clogged, and her droppings turned a ghastly green.
..."Very early in the toxic process the lead began to affect the bird's nervous system. ...she found herself tiring easily and perches her feet should have found easily were missed!
"So was prey. Her coordination impaired, opportunities that should have resulted in kills had she been a healthy eagle were muffed. ...fat deposits disappeared...and she began to starve."
By the time she found the deer carcass she was so hungry that she gorged herself. The deer, like the prairie dogs, had been shot with lead bullets, too. She consumed more lead fragments increasing the toxicity in her system and her starvation level rose. There was no hope for the lead poisoned bird to survive. The author gives more detail than I have included here but it impressed upon me how we humans inadvertantly bring about the death of such beautiful parts of our environment. Yes, this is an outstanding read in many ways. Bird lovers of all levels will cherish Dunne's words.
A golden eagle and a raven were dining on a dead deer but the eagle was obviously ill. "The eagle, who was indeed blind (or nearly so) heard the taunts ((of the raven0) but was past caring. Once, the bird's awareness had extended as far as an eagle's eyes can see and as far as her seven-f00t wingspan could bear her. But the death that was in her had constricted the borders of her world.
"Five days agos, the planted death had robbed her of the skies. Three days ago it had reduced the world to the floor of the arroyo. Then it had taken the light out of the world, binding her to the place where for two days she had stood.
"Now death was sending her spirit into retreat...
"The sad saga began on the prairies of Colorado, where several friends decided to kill a Saturday afternoon by popping the residents of a prairie dog town. They used .22 caliber rifles, equipped with 4X telescopic sights and hollow point ammunition designed to shatter on impact.
"They didn't want the carcasses, of course. They were just shooting 'varments.' They also didn't trouble to police the town by throwing the carcasses down the burrows. 'Let the scavengers have them,' they reasoned....
"The young eagle, migration taxed and hungry, had joined the host of magpies feeding on the carcasses. In the process, she ingested several small bullet fragments - most of which did not remain with the bird for long. Along with the fur and bone she ingested, they were cast up as a pellet.
"But for the twenty-four hours that the fragments remained in the bird's digestive system, they released lead, which was absorbed into the bird's system. When the bird contued her migration, she carried the incipient seed of her death inside her.
"Lead poisoning is a progressive degenerative disorder that kills birds directly or weakens them to the point that they succumb to other complications....
"It takes only one ingested fragment the size of the letter o on this page to kill an eagle. The fragments in the bird's stomach were smaller than this. Alone, it would not have brought lead dlevels in the bird to fatal levels. But the poisoned splinter was not so insignificant that the bird did not experience some debilitating effects.
"Bathed by gastric acids, the lead leached into her system and began accumulating in the liver, the kidneys, the heart, the spleen and the brain. Hemoglogin levels began to fall. The bird's gall bladder became swollen, bile clogged, and her droppings turned a ghastly green.
..."Very early in the toxic process the lead began to affect the bird's nervous system. ...she found herself tiring easily and perches her feet should have found easily were missed!
"So was prey. Her coordination impaired, opportunities that should have resulted in kills had she been a healthy eagle were muffed. ...fat deposits disappeared...and she began to starve."
By the time she found the deer carcass she was so hungry that she gorged herself. The deer, like the prairie dogs, had been shot with lead bullets, too. She consumed more lead fragments increasing the toxicity in her system and her starvation level rose. There was no hope for the lead poisoned bird to survive. The author gives more detail than I have included here but it impressed upon me how we humans inadvertantly bring about the death of such beautiful parts of our environment. Yes, this is an outstanding read in many ways. Bird lovers of all levels will cherish Dunne's words.
