Dead hawks

I sadly report that three red-shouldered hawks were found dead this week in East Switzer Canyon. The last one was seen by a children’s playgroup, and sat in a tree all day above where they were. The next day it was dead under the tree. The children found the others as well. It appears as if they all died from rat poison. One was definitely a juvenile, one an adult, the other unsure as mostly feathers were left, though there seemed to be a lot of very downy feathers, so maybe also a juvenile. The last few years I’ve birded this canyon and watched probably this very red-shoulder family raise a healthy brood each year – last year they had 3 strong young ones. There is a neighbor in the canyon who has a rat box outside there house that contains poison and the pre-school leaders are hoping to talk sense into this person and get it removed. They seem to feel that the dose isn’t enough to kill anything other than the rats. And it’s so stupid, the hawks do more to keep the rat population down than they are aware of, and without them they’ll have even more.

Any ideas on any action that could be taken to ban rat poison from being used in San Diego?

Martha
Source: SanDiegoRegionBirding Latest Reports