Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Powerline bird deaths....

...usually aren't. This report indicates that illegal shooting is killing a lot more birds than power lines. It's another blot on hunters.

Illegal shooting responsible for most birds found dead near power lines, study finds
by Cell Press

Graphical abstract. Credit: iScience, Thomason et al.
Birds can be electrocuted if they come into contact with two energized parts of a power line at once—which can happen when they spread their wings to take off from or land on a power pole. Because of this, energy companies invest substantial time and money into making sure power lines are avian safe, installing safe perches and insulating energized elements.

However, a recent study published on August 1 in the journal iScience presents a new priority for conservation, as it suggests that electrocution is no longer the only leading cause of death for birds along power lines. Instead, researchers report that 66% of dead birds that were found along power lines—for which a cause of death could be conclusively determined—died from being illegally shot.

"Solving conservation problems only works when we can accurately identify the cause of those problems," says first author Eve Thomason, a research associate at Boise State University's Raptor Research Center. "In this case, we need to know how birds are dying along power lines so that we can come up with strategies to reduce bird deaths."

Before starting this research project, Thomason used to perform avian risk assessment for a power company. There, she noticed that she was finding dead birds even along power lines where they should have been safe from electrocution. That's when she realized that many had been shot, which prompted her to organize a more complete investigation to study how common this shooting pattern was.

Over the course of four years, her team hiked or drove along 196 kilometers of power lines in Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and Oregon in search of dead birds. They collected a total of 410 carcasses, most of which were federally protected species such as eagles, hawks, and ravens. They then took them back to a laboratory to determine each bird's cause of death.

Bald eagle photograph and radiograph. Credit: iScience, Thomason et al
"What's unique to our study is that all remains were documented, collected, and X-rayed. We tried to identify the cause of death for every bird we found," says Thomason. "Prior studies typically only documented birds that were in relatively good condition, and X-rays were only sometimes performed."

By X-raying all remains, the researchers were able to more accurately identify bird shootings even when the manner of death was not externally apparent from the carcass. For example, the team examined a bald eagle that a power line owner thought had died from electrocution. However, when they X-rayed the bird, they identified numerous shotgun pellets and entrance wounds throughout the eagle's body, suggesting that the bird was actually shot and then made contact with power lines as it fell to the ground.

The team is planning on continuing their power line surveys and expanding into new areas so they can understand the spatial extent of illegal shooting and see whether there's a reason why birds are being shot. This provides helpful information for law enforcement as they plan patrols or investigations to prevent this illegal shooting from continuing.

"We are just beginning to understand this problem, and in a lot of cases, it's really difficult to know what's going on," says Thomason. "Here's what the research tells us: when people have been caught doing this activity, we've learned that sometimes people shoot protected birds for fun, and sometimes they're trying to protect their livestock from predators."

I’m calling bullshit.

Funded by .govt. no doubt.

+1

++, yup pure bullschit.

A study conducted for and funded by the power company with a pre-determined outcome. Shift the blame on shooters.

The statement is bold is the important one.

Its easy to determine the ones that are shot, they have some lead fragments or a hole blown through them. The hard to determine ones are the ones just laying there without a mark on them. Like the two different times I've seen pheaseants fly into a powerline and come down dead as a hammer. How deep does the autopsy go?

It depends if the farmers/ranchers shoot them or not.

When I rode my bicycle across West Texas in the summer of ‘19 there was a stretch of at least 60 miles around and west of Brady TX, more’n a day’s ride completely devoid of even turkey vultures. No hawks either, at all.

The usual amount of roadkill, no vultures. It was a big grasshopper year too, no Swainson’s hawks. No redtails either, usually the default hawk across most of North America.

I was outside all day and wouldn’t miss much with feathers.

This was sheep and goat country.

Wrong.
Only coyotes and wind turbines kill birds.

It is sad but I do believe it. Kids are pretty ignorant and lots of grown men never actually mature in their use of firearms. I had a brother-in-law that sadly is dead now but he was just a terror with firearms. He considered any animal or bird that came within range a free target and touted his skill at hitting live objects instead of paper or steel targets. He killed just about every species of bird and animal including an unfortunate armadillo that ventured within range. To his surprise he also got his 12K generator's gas tank as well. I complimented him on his prowess with the shotgun. I once worked repair for a Fone company and just about every cross-country aerial cable I had trouble in I found pellets from pellet guns, bird shot of various sizes and occasionally bullet holes from rifles 22 on up. On one occasion I could look through the hole and see a man sitting on his front porch looking at me smiling. The customers that had been denied service were not amused.

but when wind farms kill all kinds of eagles ,hawks and other assorted birds.The company that owns them or the govt. deny it happens or down play the amount of birds killed and say it just the cost of going green to save the planet

No it's not. Not every idiot with a gun is a hunter.

No reason to doubt the report; denial notwithstanding. GD

In the public eye, anyone who shoots anything alive is a hunter.

In all my years I've never seen nor heard anybody or any hunters or firearms enthusiast do or discuss doing such.

True enough......how many years have you been carrying a gun?

And many think Joe Biden is doing a fantastic job. That doesn't make it so.

Years ago, on a Christmas Bird Count, I reported a golden eagle outside of College Station TX. The observation was not accepted as it would have been a first for that count and I was alone. No worries, I was shortly vindicated when it turned up dead shortly after, having been shot.

A couple of decades back there was an adult, all-white redtail on territory south of San Antonio for a couple of years. Until it was shot.

There used to be a poster on here, BCBrian, who bragged that pigeon fanciers like him would routinely shotgun or poison peregrine falcons.

Around this neck of the woods people who raise roosters for fighting, raised as they are individually staked out to those little huts, shoot every raptor that comes within range from eagles on down.

Looking at the big picture though, most North American raptor populations are stable or increasing, shooting notwithstanding.

The only one that really troubled me was the pigeon guys shooting peregrines. Urban peregrines descended from released birds are on the increase, but there never was very many Arctic peregrines, and a circling pigeon flock over a coop could pull migrating peregrines in from miles away.

doesn't pass the smell test.

The first question I'd like to ask is: Who selected the research area, and on what basis?

So far we have about 16 posts saying it ain't so...but not a single shred of evidence in that direction. Anything other than opinions out there? I'm not saying it's right or wrong, because I don't know, but at least they provide some evidence for their findings.