For Immediate Release: January 11, 2001

Contact: , American Bird Conservancy, 202/234-7181 ext. 207
, 941/348-9151

The Ballad of Bandette

Oldest Known Endangered Piping Plover Faces Death From Chemical Poisoning

The northern reaches of the Great Lakes feels about as far away from the warmth of Florida as you can get at this time of year. But for migrating birds, they are intrinsically linked - two ends of a long journey which, in the case of one special bird, may soon be brought to an untimely end by a deadly chemical. ‘Bandette’ the oldest known Piping Plover in existence and one of fewer than 2,500 breeding females of her kind remaining, has been migrating between her nesting grounds on the shoreline of Lake Superior and her winter home at Tiger Tail Beach on Marco Island, Florida, since first being caught and banded over 13 years ago. This small gray and white shorebird is one of the most productive surviving females of this endangered species and has inspired an e-mail network tracking her movements and the avid guarding of her nest by dedicated volunteers each breeding season. But this remarkable life, along with thousands of others, is being threatened by the continued use of a lethal mosquito pesticide at the wintering site that is already responsible for the deaths of hundreds of birds including Dunlin, Black Skimmers, Sanderlings and other Piping Plovers. Fenthion, manufactured by the chemical giant, Bayer, is so hazardous it’s use is illegal in all other states, but Florida, home to a vast array of resident and migratory bird life, continues to spray it. Helicopters douse millions of acres year-round, without consideration for Bandette and the hundreds of thousands of other birds like her that make the 2,000 mile plus annual, round-trip trek to winter in Florida.

The non-profit organization, American Bird Conservancy (ABC), is urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to end the use of fenthion in Florida and give Bandette and other migrating shorebirds a better chance of survival. Each year these birds are already subject to such hazards as free-roaming dogs and cats, the wheels of SUVs driving on the beach and natural hazards such as hurricanes and predation by other wild animals.

With other, less harmful alternatives available, the continued use of this dangerous chemical is unnecessary and unacceptable.

ABC will be attending a meeting to be held in Orlando on January 17, which will bring together the EPA, conservationists, mosquito abatement officials and the public, to decide the fate of these much loved shorebirds. ABC is encouraging bird clubs, conservation groups and individual members of the public to write to the EPA prior to this meeting, demanding a full and immediate ban of this compound before the ‘Ballad of Bandette’ is prematurely ended.