Friday, August 31, 2012

Opera Star, Pale Male and Zena's Only Remaining Fledgling in the Wild May Be Dead



Photo courtesy of www.palemale.com/


NYC Hawkwatchers believe that the last of Pale Male and Zena's 2012 fledglings still in Central Park, Opera Star, may be dead due to being sprayed with pesticides. (Or by secondary rat poison as he has disappeared after showing the classic symptoms of poisoning and his body has not been found or a necropsy done. DB 4/7/2012)

  I watched for years before any of the known hawks were made ill or died due to human activity.  Now it's become heartbreakingly constant.



Opera Star, who was very similar to his father in activity and dash, appeared to be doing amazingly well in avoiding secondary rat poisoning so far.  Now he may be dead because of people's inability to deal with a mosquito bite now and again and the advertizing of exterminators.


Poison is poison, and it isn't good for us, our children, or who knows how many other birds and assorted wildlife who will have died anonymously  due to the spraying campaign.

Donegal Browne



3 comments:

Karen Anne said...

What happened? Blindness - did someone spray him deliberately?

Donegal Browne said...

There was an over spray of the area with pesticides for mosquitoes. A watcher who saw him, thought that he had been blinded. A sometimes side effect for birds, or even us, when sprayed heavily with certain pesticides or herbicides.

Karen Anne said...

I really can't deal with this any more. It is just too hard to watch. It is beyond my comprehension how New York authorities can do these things.