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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: March 2007

Nylon twine ensnares Montana ospreys, too

 

MISSOULA--Nylon baling twine similar to the kite strings that wreak havoc among the birds of India and Pakistan also kills ospreys in Montana, say Ken Wolff of the Grounded Eagle Found-ation, in Condon, and Rob Domenech, executive director of the Raptor View Research Institute, in Missoula.

Nylon baling twine isn't coated with crushed glass, and the ospreys are not flying into it by accident, but the non-bio-degradable twine is none-theless deadly, Wolff and Domenech in February 2007 told Perry Backus of the Missoulian.

"Ospreys seem to go out of their way to pick it up for their nests," Dom-enech observed. "It's so strong that once they get tangled up in it, they're doomed."

Domenich, Wolff, and others studying the problem with them in the Missoula Valley found nylon baling twine in more than 95% of the ospreys' nests they located.

"I've looked at nests of Swainson's hawks, red-tailed hawks, and even bald eagles," Domenech said. "I have not found any baling twine in any of their nests. This problem seems to be specific to ospreys.
"It might be the bright orange color that attracts them to it," Domenech guessed. "We really don't know. All we know for sure is that every year we have mortality."

Reported Backus, "This spring a group of Hellgate High School biology students will put together a study to see if color has anything to do with ospreys' attraction to baling twine."