The downside to pesticides

By Joe Ognibene
Greater Niagara Newspapers

Most of us are familiar with stories of coal miners who carried caged canaries along with their lunch buckets into the mines.

The birds weren’t carried because of their good looks or cheerful singing, but rather as an early warning of impending doom. When the bird’s whistling stopped, the miners quickly looked into the cage. If the bird was lying on the bottom with feet pointing skyward, the miners knew instantly that deadly methane gas was in the air and, if lucky, beat a hasty retreat to the surface. Many are now wondering if we are experiencing our own “canary in the coal mine” scenario.

Birds and insects are more susceptible to changes in the environment that harms them sooner than us. Not many of us will feel any ill effects from being exposed to a whiff or two of insect repellent, but it sure does a job on most tiny insects. Some bugs and other creepy crawlers ingest poisons that might not kill them immediately, but lodges in their systems for a short time before they too succumb to modern chemistry. A classic example of storing chemicals in their bodies is the Zebra mussel. The mussels’ bodies are loaded with the various chemicals that have been dumped for years into our streams. They excrete those chemicals back into the environment so it never really goes away. Some of the chemicals that have been spread on the land over the years have the potential to do harm to birds, insects and animals for years.

An example is the ring-neck pheasant. At one time, the gaudy game bird was found in every area of the Lake Plains counties. Then along came DDT, and many other pesticides that went into the field and onto seed corn to kill corn borer and other crop-eating bugs. The pheasant is now a memory where they used to be a common sight.

Birds and fish that ingest poison-laden insects or grains accumulate them in the systems and that’s why you are advised to limit eating fish and wildlife. A recent study has shown we are losing some of our common birds at a rapid rate and no one has come up with an answer why. Not only birds are on the missing list, bees, wasps and hornets are, as well. Bees might be a nuisance for gardeners as they flit among flowers or vegetable blossoms, but seldom sting anyone unless provoked. Hornets and wasps are mostly interested in gathering mud for nests and unless the nest is bothered, leave people alone. How many bees, wasps or hornets have you seen so far this summer?

A bird I have long admired is the chickadee. I’ve had them sit on the end of my shotgun barrel while hiding in a cornrow waiting for geese to land, looking me in the eye as if wondering what I was doing there. Years ago, I realized chickadees will sit on your hand if you’re holding out birdseed. I’ve had two and three at a time settle on my fingertips while grabbing tiny seeds. I haven’t seen a chickadee in more than a month and I wonder why they are absent.

Around our part of the country we have the Rufous hummingbird visiting backyard sugar-water feeders. It is a fascinating bird to watch. For years we have put two feeders out alongside a hanging basket of Fuchsia and watched as the birds flitted among them. Some years I could identify at least seven different birds. This year one feeder is more than enough for the three that are around.

Not only song birds are disappearing. You might have noticed last winter the raft of Scaup on the upper Niagara River was nowhere near what it used to be. Northern pintail ducks are in short supply, too. Could we be experiencing our “canary in the coal mine” scenario? Is the rapid decline of so many bird and insect species a warning to mankind that we could be next to become a victim to our own careless and reckless ways?

A study based on Audubon’s Christmas bird count going back to 1967 and the U.S. Geological Survey’s count of breeding birds has shown a 54 percent decline in 20 common bird species.

While many continue in the quest for the perfect lawn or garden, insects are killed or poisoned by insecticides and pesticides that are then eaten by passing birds. I would rather see a fast rising, gaudy, ring-necked pheasant flying away than a field free of insects. And a chemically-doused lawn might look pretty, but it could be a death trap for songbirds or bees.

If the aforementioned doesn’t impress you with might be in our future, maybe the news that thousands of rock bass and smallmouth bass have turned up dead along the shoreline of Skaneateles Lake. Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) has been blamed. Skaneateles Lake, one of our Finger Lakes, is located southwest of Syracuse and has always been considered one of our top smallmouth bass fishing lakes.

Findings of VHS have been reported throughout the country and it is feared what is happening in Skaneateles could happen in Lake Ontario or Erie. This is why no one is allowed to transport any baitfish from one body of water or stream to another. For baitfish to be allowed to be transported, a certificate testifying to their freedom from VHS must accompany them. A bait dealer will give you the certificate when you purchase bait from him or her. The sad part is that there are still fishermen who don’t know of the regulations, or, if they do know, figure no one will ever know if they violate it. That’s how our fishery will be destroyed.