Six decades on from Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring,' birds are still facing 'elixirs of death.'
Even well-meaning bird lovers are unknowingly causing harm. In the U.K., the 150,000 tons of feed people put out each year attracts rodents, which people kill with rat poison, then raptors feeding on the rodents and die. Pest control poisoning of voles, prairie dogs and moles in the U.S. West also eradicates hawks, owls, and even songbirds that eat maggots on carcasses.
Farmland has become inhospitable for many migratory and grassland species as farmers leave less wild habitat and use more pesticides. These bird groups have taken substantial hits in both the U.S. and Europe. Lees uses shrikes — predatory songbirds — as an example. “Being a shrike in the Anthropocene appears to be very difficult,” Lees says. Without large insects to eat, Japan’s red-backed shrike, Europe’s great shrike and the U.S. loggerhead shrike are all disappearing.
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