Biologist study finds mercury in predator peregrine falcons

Source: Associated Press

Biologist study finds mercury in predator peregrine falcons

April 21, 2019

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada wildlife researcher has found that not even the fastest bird on Earth can escape mercury contamination.

The toxic element is turning up in feathers of peregrine falcons from coast to coast, including those at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, state Department of Wildlife biologist Joe Barnes told the Las Vegas Review-Journal .

Over the past decade, Barnes has tested for mercury in 700 individual peregrines in southern Nevada, Washington, Maryland and the Gulf Coast of Texas.

“Every single one of them was impacted, regardless of whether they live in wide-open desert or Lake Mead or Greenland or coastal British Columbia,” he said.

Barnes’ latest findings were published in February in the Journal of Raptor Research.

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