AUTHORITIES INVESTIGATING MASS BIRD DEATH IN HILLSBORO

Some birds have been taken to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lab in Ashland for testing.

Posted: Nov. 17, 2018 10:30 AM

Updated: Nov. 18, 2018 12:58 AM

Posted By: Associated Press

HILLSBORO, Ore. (AP) - Federal and state authorities are investigating a mass bird death in northwestern Oregon.

Officials say a bald eagle, red-tailed hawk and dozens of red-winged blackbirds and European starlings were found dead in a field in Hillsboro earlier this week.

Oregon State Police are investigating, and some birds have been taken to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lab in Ashland for testing.

Portland General Electric says crews checked a nearby transformer but it's designed to be safe for birds, and it's unlikely the birds were electrocuted.

Audubon Society of Portland Conservation Director Bob Sallinger says it's possible the smaller birds were poisoned, and the larger, predatory birds died after eating them.

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Rare Picture: Blackbird "Rides" Hawk

The two birds were likely involved in a mid-air tussle, expert says.


By Stefan Sirucek, National Geographic



PUBLISHED AUGUST 04, 2015

Talk about a bird's eye view—a red-winged blackbird was recently photographed "riding" atop a red-tailed hawk.


A visitor to the DeSoto and Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuges in Iowa and Nebraska recently snapped an incredible photograph, which wasreleased today by the U.S. Department of the Interior.


But if the photograph seems too good to be true, that’s because it probably is, experts say.


“I don’t believe that it’s a bird taking a ride—I think it was just a well-timed shot,” says refuge manager Tom Cox.


Cox said the picture most likely captures a perfect moment during a fight between a blackbird and a hawk—and that blackbirds attacking and harassing hawks is actually quite common.

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Shot in Vancouver, red-tailed hawk fights for its life in Portland

The three-year-old hawk, which weighs about 2.2 pounds, was banded by a biologist last year near the Portland International Airport. Now a year later, the bird is fighting for its life. (Photo courtesy of the Audubon Society of Portland.)

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A three-year-old red-tailed hawk is fighting for its life after having its wing shot and broken in Vancouver.

The hawk was shot by an unknown person in a residential neighborhood Sept. 8 near I-5 in Vancouver. The homeowner found the hawk in blackberry bushes in her yard and brought it into the Audubon Society of Portland with a broken left wing.

Veterinarian Deb Sheaffer, who has been on staff for more than eight years and volunteered at the Audubon Society of Portland for 15 years prior to that, has been caring for the bird. She doesn't know if its injured wing will ever heal after the shooting.

"A wing could heal typically in 2-4 weeks, but the big concern is the infection now," she said. "I don't know how graphic I should get, but we had to pull out feathers and debris from the wounds where the bone was. It was quite a mess."

Continued:  http://www.katu.com/news/local/Shot-in-Vancouver-Red-tailed-Hawk-recovering-in-Portland-170416546.html

More information on the red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis):

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/id

http://birdweb.org/birdweb/bird/red-tailed_hawk