[NittLion78]

You still see a lot of them being brought into wildlife rescue hospitals for lead poisoning from having eaten birdshot or in some other way ingesting fired ammunition. Seems to be the biggest issue in the Midwest for them, anyway.

Either way, as a kid I remember being told to assume you'd never see one and they'd probably be extinct in my lifetime. Now I couldn't even tell you how many I've seen, from as far east as PA and north to AK.

[JoeAltmaier]

I see reports about 'a dozen' etc suffering from lead ingestion. But no national statistics, just anecdotes.

Considering that hunters shoot millions of lead bullets each year, it seems a small problem? It's suggested that birds eat guts from eviscerated animals that hunters leave behind. Perhaps a policy of burying or scattering the guts would solve the problem?

[hkarthik]

It's a much smaller scale problem than the pesticide issue.

Here in Northern California, we're actually unable to use poisons on pest rodents like squirrels and rats since they often enter the ecosystem through raptors ingesting them.

My friends with a lot of land were advised to get pellet guns and air rifles to deal with their squirrel problems. It's considered the lowest impact to the ecosystem and food chain.

[giardini]

Bird-lovers have pushed an anti-lead agenda (for hunting) for decades and have been highly successful. They continue to make inroads into banning use of lead entirely:

"Bald eagles across the United States are dying from lead poisoning":

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/16/us/bald-eagles-dying-lead...

"CALIFORNIA'S LEAD AMMO BAN IN EFFECT JULY 1[2019]":

https://www.gohunt.com/read/news/californias-lead-ammo-ban-i...

I think most of this is anti-gun lobbying. When people are reduced to stoning wild ducks and spearing deer then anti-gunners will ask Congress to ban sticks and stones.