Whoever shot those three coyotes

[elkboy]

Just a reminder, if you're going to leave critters out in the open for Eagles to find, don't use lead core bullets.  I have great success with the Barns varmint line.  Explosive results without the risk of killing raptors from lead poisoning, and putting us all in a bad light.

Thank you.  Well said.  Most of the eagles and other raptors admitted to veterinary care have toxic levels of lead in their blood (for example, 76% of the balds and goldens admitted for all causes to the WSU vet college).

Most likely from unrecovered ducks, geese and upland birds?

Could play a role, but the data suggest that big game (deer, elk) and coyote hunting are the most important.  Stauber and others (2010, Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery) is one of the studies I was thinking of.  Lead levels in birds admitted to the vet hospital at WSU, as well as number of birds admitted, were low in spring and summer, start to rise in the fall, and then peak in winter (January to March), suggesting that carcass scavenging in fall and winter is resulting in the lead exposure. 

[boneaddict]

I wonder if fish play any role in this.  (the levels)

[MR5x5]

So 26 birds with detrimental levels of lead in 17 yrs.  Still not good, but does not appear to be overly problematic...

[HillHound]

I’m sure there is an invincible force field that keeps them from scavenging in the dumps?? Guaranteed they pick up heavy metals there and sometimes I see as many eagles as crows picking through the dump when I’m there. But yep it’s got to be the big bad hunters and their lead bullets.

[elkboy]

So 26 birds with detrimental levels of lead in 17 yrs.  Still not good, but does not appear to be overly problematic...

Good point- I'd say that is a sample (from just one study), as those are just the ones that are hauled to the emergency room in Pullman for all causes, not just lead intoxication.

[elkboy]

I’m sure there is an invincible force field that keeps them from scavenging in the dumps?? Guaranteed they pick up heavy metals there and sometimes I see as many eagles as crows picking through the dump when I’m there. But yep it’s got to be the big bad hunters and their lead bullets.

Well, I don't want to thread-jack (too late, I guess?), or start an argument.  I'd agree that dumps are certainly a way for critters to get exposed to heavy metals.  I'd wonder, though, if dumpster-diving wouldn't be a year-round source of lead (old lead paint chips would be the leading contaminant, from what I've read), and doesn't explain the fall-winter spike of lead in these birds.  A lot of other studies, based on hundreds or thousands of birds, have found the same, and a lot have strong evidence that gut-pile or carcass lead is a big source.  Fortunately, it's one we can control as hunters, by switching to non-lead bullets for the hunt (blast away with lead at the range- that's not the problem!).  Shoot all the coyotes you want, I'd say, but consider using a non-lead bullet if you're going to leave the carcass out there. 

And I'm a hunter myself- last thing I'd want to do is paint us as "bad"- I just think this is an issue worth considering.  I switched to brass (for muzzy) and copper (for modern) ten years ago, and am darn happy with those options.

A few studies- lots more out there if one wants to search. 
Wayland and Bollinger, 1999, “Lead exposure and poisoning in bald eagles and golden eagles in the Canadian prairie provinces”, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0269749198002012
Bedrosian et al., 2012, “Lead exposure in bald eagles from big game hunting, the continental implications and successful mitigation efforts”, https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0051978
Franson and Russell, 2014, “Lead and eagles: demographic and pathological characteristics of poisoning, and exposure levels associated with other causes of mortality”, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10646-014-1337-0 
Cruz-Martinez et al., 2012, “Lead from spent ammunition: a source of exposure and poisoning in bald eagles”, Lead from spent ammunition: (jstor.org)

[hunterednate]

Just a reminder, if you're going to leave critters out in the open for Eagles to find, don't use lead core bullets.  I have great success with the Barns varmint line.  Explosive results without the risk of killing raptors from lead poisoning, and putting us all in a bad light.

Thank you.  Well said.  Most of the eagles and other raptors admitted to veterinary care have toxic levels of lead in their blood (for example, 76% of the balds and goldens admitted for all causes to the WSU vet college).

Most likely from unrecovered ducks, geese and upland birds?

Non-toxic shot has been required for waterfowl since 1991. More and more upland areas require non-toxic as well.

[Goshawk]

Just a reminder, if you're going to leave critters out in the open for Eagles to find, don't use lead core bullets.  I have great success with the Barns varmint line.  Explosive results without the risk of killing raptors from lead poisoning, and putting us all in a bad light.

Thank you.  Well said.  Most of the eagles and other raptors admitted to veterinary care have toxic levels of lead in their blood (for example, 76% of the balds and goldens admitted for all causes to the WSU vet college).

Most likely from unrecovered ducks, geese and upland birds?

Actually, big game gut piles and even coyotes are the biggest cause. Waterfowl and steel shot only, and upland game is found more by ground based predators than avian.  Lead core bullets fragment to some degree leaving lead in sizes ranging from microscopic size to peanut size. The bird just tears out chunks and swallows, no chewing. Their gizzards use any hard particles from rocks, to bullets as a grinding stone to further break down the meal. Any lead is not passed through the digestive system like we do, but held in the gizzard and stays there until it's ground itself completely away and digested. That's what makes birds so subjectable to lead poisoning.

[boneaddict]

No thread Jack elk boy. Have at it.  I enjoy the discussion.

[JimmyHoffa]

I’m sure there is an invincible force field that keeps them from scavenging in the dumps?? Guaranteed they pick up heavy metals there and sometimes I see as many eagles as crows picking through the dump when I’m there. But yep it’s got to be the big bad hunters and their lead bullets.

Well, I don't want to thread-jack (too late, I guess?), or start an argument.  I'd agree that dumps are certainly a way for critters to get exposed to heavy metals.  I'd wonder, though, if dumpster-diving wouldn't be a year-round source of lead (old lead paint chips would be the leading contaminant, from what I've read), and doesn't explain the fall-winter spike of lead in these birds.  A lot of other studies, based on hundreds or thousands of birds, have found the same, and a lot have strong evidence that gut-pile or carcass lead is a big source.  Fortunately, it's one we can control as hunters, by switching to non-lead bullets for the hunt (blast away with lead at the range- that's not the problem!).  Shoot all the coyotes you want, I'd say, but consider using a non-lead bullet if you're going to leave the carcass out there. 

And I'm a hunter myself- last thing I'd want to do is paint us as "bad"- I just think this is an issue worth considering.  I switched to brass (for muzzy) and copper (for modern) ten years ago, and am darn happy with those options.

A few studies- lots more out there if one wants to search. 
Wayland and Bollinger, 1999, “Lead exposure and poisoning in bald eagles and golden eagles in the Canadian prairie provinces”, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0269749198002012
Bedrosian et al., 2012, “Lead exposure in bald eagles from big game hunting, the continental implications and successful mitigation efforts”, https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0051978
Franson and Russell, 2014, “Lead and eagles: demographic and pathological characteristics of poisoning, and exposure levels associated with other causes of mortality”, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10646-014-1337-0 
Cruz-Martinez et al., 2012, “Lead from spent ammunition: a source of exposure and poisoning in bald eagles”, Lead from spent ammunition: (jstor.org)

I read a couple years ago that California still has big spikes in birds with toxic metals in their blood.  This being years after changing hunting ammo to non toxic and having a 99% compliance rate.  This includes birds in coastal areas like Mendocino, so far from the Nevada/Arizona/Oregon borders where lead is still allowed.

[ghosthunter]

Lead is a naturally occurring toxic metal found in the Earth's crust

Could birds be locating lead from natural sources?

[KP-Skagit]

For what its worth, a friend works for WDFW in Skagit Valley and one of the things he does is recover swan carcasses/crippled swans. He said just about every sick swan or swan that flies into a power line has lead poisoning. He's a waterfowler himself, with no agenda, just reporting the facts he observes.

One thing is for sure.... Swans aren't scavenging coyote carcasses.

[Longfield1]

For what its worth, a friend works for WDFW in Skagit Valley and one of the things he does is recover swan carcasses/crippled swans. He said just about every sick swan or swan that flies into a power line has lead poisoning. He's a waterfowler himself, with no agenda, just reporting the facts he observes.

One thing is for sure.... Swans aren't scavenging coyote carcasses.

Does he have a working theory that could explain the lead?

[salt n sage90]

For what its worth, a friend works for WDFW in Skagit Valley and one of the things he does is recover swan carcasses/crippled swans. He said just about every sick swan or swan that flies into a power line has lead poisoning. He's a waterfowler himself, with no agenda, just reporting the facts he observes.

One thing is for sure.... Swans aren't scavenging coyote carcasses.

Does he have a working theory that could explain the lead?

He says that for one we don't know what all happens further north in wintering grounds and along their migration corridor.
Also, that there are a lot of people out in the Skagit flats that shoot skeet in their backyards right into potato fields.
But I have a sneaking suspicion that there's more at work than that.

[Oldguy]

Years ago we had a problem with swan dying of lead poisoning up in Whatcom County. It turned out that the source was a shallow lake that had at one time been the site of a shotgun club. We did necropsy on the dead birds and found lead shot. Since a way to keep them off the lake was found, I haven't seen a dead swan anywhere.