06-14-2014, 08:43 AM
"And your "invasive", position invites criticism since frequently the " cure", is worse than the disease for it invites slaughter of species that have already made there home here in Hawaii - think- cattle egret, barn owl, both of which are benign survivors."
Uhm, no. A few seconds of googling shows that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service thinks differently about cattle egrets and barn owls:
Uhm, no. A few seconds of googling shows that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service thinks differently about cattle egrets and barn owls:
quote:http://usfwspacific.tumblr.com/post/7040...m-an-alien
Predation by cattle egrets on native Hawaiian birds has been well documented. There have been repeated observations of cattle egrets eating Hawaiian stilt, coot and moorhen chicks, and koloa ducklings. In upland areas cattle egrets have been documented preying upon chicks of Hawaii’s native owl – the pueo. Chicks in seabird colonies have been forced to regurgitate meals for cattle egrets, and the chicks themselves are also taken. Cattle egrets also compete with some seabirds for nesting habitat, creating a possibility for disease transmission.
Barn owls in the continental United States are known as rodent specialists, but barn owls introduced to the Hawaiian Islands quickly adapted to foraging on native birds. Seabird predation by barn owls has been documented on endangered and non-endangered native seabirds, endangered waterbirds, and forest birds such as the honeycreeper.