The State - News from Dec. 29, 1988

Dormant sprays used on Central California almond orchards are affecting red-tailed hawks and other birds, say researchers at UC Davis and the state Department of Fish and Game. A team of biologists and chemists have completed a two-year study of 150 red-tailed hawks that were captured near almond orchards in Butte, Stanislaus, Merced and Kern counties. The birds were released after blood and wastes were sampled and feathers collected. “Our data indicate that the chemicals applied to orchards during the winter dormant season pose a hazard to hawks and other birds that live or are resting near the orchards during their migrations,” said Barry W. Wilson, avian biologist and toxicologist at Davis. The study indicates that the hawks were exposed to enough organophosphates such as parathion, diazinon and methidathion during the dormant-spray season to bother their central nervous systems, he said.