USFW SAYS RAPTOR KILLED BY TRUCK IN BOULEVARD WAS HAWK, NOT EAGLE

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By Miriam Raftery

December 4, 2013 (Boulevard) -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has completed its examination of a raptor euthanized after it was struck by a semi- truck in Boulevard on November 27. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has confirmed the species of bird  as a red-tailed hawk, said Jane Hendron, Public Affairs Division Chief with the USFWS in Carlsbad.

 Our earlier report incorrectly identified the bird as a Golden Eagle, based on photos examined by a local birds of prey rescue group, a local planning group chair familiar with raptors who also viewed the images, and a passerby who cared for the bird for two hours until a County Animal Control offer arrived to euthanize the bird.  Due to technical transmission issues ECM was unable to obtain electronic copies of those images.

The raptor rescue facility owner has since advised ECM that she believes this was a dark-phased red tail hawk which has a dark underbelly and can be confused with an eagle.

The hawk's suffering was eased thanks to  compassion shown by passing good Samaritans and a County Animal Control officer. The incorrect identification fueled speculation over why Environmental Impact Reports for two local wind projects had listed no eagles in the vicinity, also raising questions over why an animal control officer euthanized a protected federal species.  We regret the error.

 

 


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Comments

Thanks for the correction,

Thanks for the correction, ECM. Accuracy in these matters--truth--is, of course, the most important thing. Not that it makes the power company's claim (that there aren't any eagles in the area) any the less ludicrous. It doesn't.

No Accountability = No Credibility

The EIRs are a sham when it comes to the truth that Golden Eagles are using areas in the East County where wind turbine farms are already approved to be built.  Why is it taking SO LONG for our courts to recognize this?   

Is there any accountability for how many birds have been/are being killed at the already-existing Kumeyaay Wind Farm?    Perhaps if we knew that number, we wouldn't have wasted so much time and money to get to this point in the first place.

Thank you Sam Mc Kernon for taking the time to show compassion in a difficult situation and for reporting it to further the cause for the truth regarding Golden Eagles in East County.

Eagles, of course, range over

Eagles, of course, range over the entire East County, and why we would treat this developer's claim with anything but the ridicule and contempt it so richly deserves is beyond me. It's also important to remember that many of the bird death counts we read are being submitted by the energy companies themselves. Many experts claims that these figures are being purposefully underestimated.        

Windmills vs. Birds
About 70 golden eagles are killed every year by turbines at California's Altamont Pass, reports the LA Times.

Robert Bryce

March 7, 2012 6:54 p.m. ET

 

For years, the wind energy industry has had a license to kill golden eagles and lots of other migratory birds. It's not an official license, mind you.

But as the bird carcasses pile up—two more dead golden eagles were recently found at the Pine Tree wind project in Southern California's Kern County, bringing the number of eagle carcasses at that site to eight—the wind industry's unofficial license to kill wildlife is finally getting some serious scrutiny.

Some 77 organizations—led by the American Bird Conservancy, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Endangered Species Coalition and numerous chapters of the Audubon Society—are petitioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to toughen the rules for the siting, permitting and operation of large-scale wind projects.

It's about time. Over the past two decades, the federal government has prosecuted hundreds of cases against oil and gas producers and electricity producers for violating some of America's oldest wildlife-protection laws: the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Eagle Protection Act.

Read full article: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204781804577267114294838328