danger to birds from agricultural pesticides etc?

[tarquin]

I am contemplating moving into a house on a farm and am concerned about the possible dangers to my bird by the use of agricultural pesticides that are apparently sprayed on the potato crop.
Would anyone be so kind as to advise me in this regard

[Minca]

I would find out the specific pesticide being used and try to get my hands on an MSDS. It will give you all the details you need to know, and then you can make your decisions on how to protect your bird from there. That is if you live the the US, I don't know if other countries have MSDS's, but I would think they would have something similar.

[tarquin]

Thank you so much Minca for replying to my querie regarding pesticides.I live in Scotland and am not sure what an MSDS is however,but I assume it is some kind of chemical description.They grow potatoes on this farm and apparently spray every ten days against mold as well as the pesticides which they use. I have been told that as I am living in an agricultural area it is actually quite difficult to avoid these chemicals as they are wind borne and end up covering quite a large area anyway.There is only a hedge seperating the site of my aviary from the potato crops

[jobbyjob]

Tarquin, I am from California in the US. I'm a Biologist and the question of pesticides is very important, but, you wont have to worry about them in the lifetime of your bird (unless you breed from it or it comes into direct contact with large quantities.) The most relevant problem with pesticides is bio-accumulation, the same happens in fisheries. When the chemicals build up on the plants, then invertebrates, then each predator species, then finally in your bird, you have a shocking ammount of junk in the tissue of the animal in question. It's really scary when you think about it. The huge issue with peregrines in the US because of ddt and the more current issue of chemical poisioning causing bone fragility in RT's and other raptors are perfect points to illustrate the ever increasing problem of environmental degradation. Anyway, sorry for getting off the immediate subject moderators, I just finally found a discussion that I actually cared about on these forums.

[Minca]

So, what you're saying is that it's a matter of the chemicals building up through generations? That it may not show symptoms in the first bird, but it's offspring and their offspring and so on? That's what I'm getting from what you've said.

Have you seen the Falcon Research Group website based out of Washington state? They've got pictures of wild RT's with horrendously malformed beaks that have been showing up around the Pac. NW for the last few years. Or, at least they used to, I haven't checked into the site for awhile.

[jobbyjob]

Thats not at all what i meant Minca, maybe I was unclear.

[tarquin]

Thank you Jobbyjob for your interesting and informed reply to my question. I appreciate you taking the time.