Tag Archives: rodenticide is a secondary poison to birds

Was the rat brought to the WRDC nest poisoned?

Last season, a rat was brought on as prey to the Bald Eagle nest at Captiva on Sanibel Island. It was fed to Peace and Hope. Both died of rodenticide poisoning. There have been far too many deaths due to rodenticide. The list is too long for me to type but every wildlife rehabber will tell you that everyone of those deaths was preventable!

Today a rat was brought to the WRDC nest of Ron and Rita and the eaglets, R1 and R2, ate it. The following was posted on a FB group that I belong to. Rodenticide is meat for rats and mice but it often causes the secondary poisoning of raptors as well as domestic cats or dogs. Everyone is working very hard to get this designer poison banned.

The rats are so easy to catch once they have eaten the poison. They become sluggish and are easy to catch.

Please send your positive wishes to this nest and help the raptors by not using rodenticide and telling everyone you know to not use it and why. I have first hand experience with our lovely cat, Duncan, dying from this. It is a horrific death. Agonizing.

Ervie had two fish deliveries so far. One was at 10:24 and the other was at 12:47:44. Ervie has also been off the nest exploring the area which is wonderful news.

Port Lincoln also zoomed in the camera on Ervie eating his fish. The result was some beautiful portraits of my favourite Osprey fledgling. Told you I was biased!

In the image below, Ervie is giving the ‘snake eye’ look that many Ospreys, like Iris at the Hell Gate Canyon Nest in Montana is so famous for.

Ervie loves to eat! He is really doing a great job eating this nice fish!

The hatch at Berry College is progressing. The extra shell was over the smaller end of the egg. One small victory! B15 is doing very well, too. Let us all hope that B15 is very nice to its sibling once it has hatched.

By 16:00, the little one at the KNF nest was chattering away wanting more fish. Anna waited a couple of minutes and got up and gave that sweetie a really nice feeding. I was surprised that it could hold any more fish after the previous meal but, there was room for a few nice size bites. At that time, 5 fish or parts of fish could be seen on the camera. The one that Anna is feeding yet-to-be-named eaglet had just been brought in by Louis. This baby will never have to worry about there not being enough fish! Last year Louis brought in a turtle but, as far as I know there are no worries about rats coming on to this nest as prey. Lake Kincaid is right out the front door!

I went back to check the WBSE nest and Daisy has not returned since she was there in the morning. There is still much time left in the day, however.

I am so sorry to worry anyone about the eaglets on the WRDC nest. It is reassuring that they are being monitored and I hope at the first sign of a problem they will be removed from the nest and taken into care — with positive results! Three things that would really improve the lives of the raptors ——- ban rodenticides along with lead in hunting and fishing equipment.

Thank you so much for stopping by to check on the latest comings and goings. This is brief because I wanted to alert you to the issue at hand. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or FB pages where I took my screen captures: WRDC Bald Eagle Nest, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Berry College Bald Eagle Cam, KNF Bald Eagle Cam, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, and Bald Eagles Rodenticide and Lead FB page.

Double Sadness in Estonia White-tail Eagles Nest

When EE2 died yesterday at the Estonia White-tailed Eagle nest in Matsula National Park, I thought it was a one off. Yet, the notion that a prey item had been poisoned and that EE2 suffered from secondary rodenticide poisoning lingered in my mind all day.

At 21:00 when EE 1 had a nice crop and was getting ready to go to sleep for the night, I put that thought aside. Sadly, while EE1 is, as I write this, still trying to ‘get up’ but can’t, it is all too clear that these two eaglets died from poison. EE1 took a day longer because it was bigger. What a tragedy for this eagle family. [The alternative is some kind of Avian Flu].

The first two images below were taken at 21:00. EE1 has no trouble sitting up. It has eaten well all day and has a nice crop.

Eve was looking down at EE2. She had moved the little one from the nest cup to the side of the nest and was covering it up when Eerik came in with part of a large prey (some kind of bird with very long black legs – a stork?). That action uncovered the little one.

Over and over again, Eve looked down at that little body. She has to be wondering what happened to these babies so quickly when both were so healthy.

The eagles had a rabbit for prey a few days ago. That might have been the poisoned animal but we will really never know.

While it might be a rodenticide – the cause is not the rodents. The deaths have been caused by humans using designer poisons. They need to be outlawed. If there are rodents, bring in owls and hawks. They can kill more than the costly chemicals who take the lives of birds and domestic pets as well.

EE1 is still trying to get up and live. It is extremely sad for these very devoted parents who will not ever know what happened to their babies. They food they bring to the nest is what they find. Years ago, they used to bring in lots of fish. The prey they catch or the carrion they find doesn’t wear a sign that says poison or filled with lead shot.

I wonder if it would not be prudent to build a pond and stock it with fish by this historic nest in Matsula National Park. White-tail eagles have been breeding here since 1870. And, while I am mentioning it, maybe put in artificial ponds near to the nest of Spilve and another one near Milda. I am certain that funds could be raised – people would support such efforts internationally. I would be more than happy to lead a fund raising campaign if it were possible. The loss of habitat, climate change bringing these heat waves of 26 or more degrees in Estonia when it was only 1 degree C a few days ago are caused by humans, and the list continues. We know that eagles will take fish from fish farms so maybe let’s build some! If the eagles would get the prey there, it would be safe.

Thank you for joining me. It is, unfortunately a very, very sad day and I think I am going to take Thursday off. I will be back on Friday with news from all the nests. Stay safe. Take care everyone.

Thank you to the Eagle Club of Estonia for their streaming cam. That is where I obtained my screen shots.