Post by Admin on Feb 20, 2007 3:30:59 GMT -5
Groups ask ranchers to pick up orange bailing twine, save osprey
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) -- Groups that monitor and work to preserve osprey are asking ranchers and others to pick up leftover bailing twine, which osprey can get tangled in, leading to their death.
Osprey, more than any other raptors, appear to be attracted to orange bailing twine for nesting materials. But they can also get tangled up in the rope.
Last summer, Rob Domenech, executive director of the Raptor View Research Institute in Missoula, found two osprey upside-down and dead after bailing twine wrapped around their feet became entangled in a nest and a tree.
Domenech said osprey seem uniquely attracted to the orange twine.
"I've looked at nests of Swainson's hawks, red-tailed hawks and even bald eagles," Domenech said. "I haven't found any bailing twine in any of their nests. The problem seems to be specific to osprey."
More than 95 percent of the osprey nests Domenech and other researchers looked at in the Missoula Valley contained bailing twine.
"Osprey seem to go out of their way to pick it up for their nests," Domenech said. "It's so strong that once they get tangled up in it, they're doomed."
Ken Wolff of The Grounded Eagle Foundation in Condon said their raptor rehabilitation center has treated baby osprey whose feet were cut off by bailing twine.
Domenech watched a female osprey fly around the best part of last summer with a 4-foot length of twine attached to her leg. She eventually whittled it down until there was a single strand wrapped around her foot.
"I thought she might make it," Domenech said.
A little while later, though, the bailing twine became caught in a tree and the bird died.
"It's such a shame because it's so preventable," Domenech said. "Something as simple as pickup up bailing twine can make a tremendous amount of difference."
This spring, a group of Missoula Hellgate High School biology students plan to study whether the orange color has anything to do with the raptor's attraction to bailing twine.
In late March or early April, osprey will begin to arrive in Montana from their wintering grounds - some from as far south as Argentina - and start looking for material to build their nests.
"They make this incredible journey where they have to withstand a lot of hardship," Domenech said. "It's such a shame for them to travel all that way only to be taken out by some stinking bailing twine."
---
On the Net:
Raptor View Research Institute: www.raptorview.org
The Grounded Eagle Foundation: www.groundedeaglefoundation.org
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) -- Groups that monitor and work to preserve osprey are asking ranchers and others to pick up leftover bailing twine, which osprey can get tangled in, leading to their death.
Osprey, more than any other raptors, appear to be attracted to orange bailing twine for nesting materials. But they can also get tangled up in the rope.
Last summer, Rob Domenech, executive director of the Raptor View Research Institute in Missoula, found two osprey upside-down and dead after bailing twine wrapped around their feet became entangled in a nest and a tree.
Domenech said osprey seem uniquely attracted to the orange twine.
"I've looked at nests of Swainson's hawks, red-tailed hawks and even bald eagles," Domenech said. "I haven't found any bailing twine in any of their nests. The problem seems to be specific to osprey."
More than 95 percent of the osprey nests Domenech and other researchers looked at in the Missoula Valley contained bailing twine.
"Osprey seem to go out of their way to pick it up for their nests," Domenech said. "It's so strong that once they get tangled up in it, they're doomed."
Ken Wolff of The Grounded Eagle Foundation in Condon said their raptor rehabilitation center has treated baby osprey whose feet were cut off by bailing twine.
Domenech watched a female osprey fly around the best part of last summer with a 4-foot length of twine attached to her leg. She eventually whittled it down until there was a single strand wrapped around her foot.
"I thought she might make it," Domenech said.
A little while later, though, the bailing twine became caught in a tree and the bird died.
"It's such a shame because it's so preventable," Domenech said. "Something as simple as pickup up bailing twine can make a tremendous amount of difference."
This spring, a group of Missoula Hellgate High School biology students plan to study whether the orange color has anything to do with the raptor's attraction to bailing twine.
In late March or early April, osprey will begin to arrive in Montana from their wintering grounds - some from as far south as Argentina - and start looking for material to build their nests.
"They make this incredible journey where they have to withstand a lot of hardship," Domenech said. "It's such a shame for them to travel all that way only to be taken out by some stinking bailing twine."
---
On the Net:
Raptor View Research Institute: www.raptorview.org
The Grounded Eagle Foundation: www.groundedeaglefoundation.org
