Hillsboro Dead Birds – Including Bald Eagle – Probed By OSP

HILLSBORO, OR – Dozens of dead birds were found dead in a field in Hillsboro this week. Investigators from the Oregon State Police and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are trying to figure out how they died.

The dead birds included at least two that are under federal protection – a bald eagle and a red-tailed hawk. Also among the dead were nearly two-dozen red-winged blackbirds and starlings.

The discovery of the dead birds was first reported by the Hillsboro Tribune.

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Several of the birds are now at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's lab in Ashland where doctors and scientists will try to determine what killed the birds.

The Audubon Society of Portland's Conservation Director, Bob Sallinger, tells Patch that one option is that the starlings and blackbirds had been poisoned and then eaten by the eagle and hawk.

"it's very concerning," Sallinger said. "A couple of things stand out. First, that they weren't all found on the same day, there were more dead birds out there this morning.

"Also, it's an interesting and troubling mix of birds, the smaller ones and the larger predators."

Sallinger says that it's possible that someone had a permit to poison to the starlings or blackbirds and that the hawk and eagle were unintended consequences of that.

"The thing is, if you get a permit, you're supposed to pick up the birds after they die, not just leave them on the ground where birds like a hawk and eagle can swoop down and eat them."

Sallinger says that if a permitted poison had been used, it would have caused the birds to have seizures, which is supposed to scare other birds away from the area.

"We're not going to know for sure until the tests come back," he says.

While some had suggested that electrocution from nearby Portland General Electric lines was possible, Sallinger doesn't think it likely and PGE says that the nearby lines are insulated, n part to prevent that from happening.

Photo courtesy to Patch.