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Golf course bird deaths a mystery

The Paradise Island duck population has been decimated. Tests will be done on water in the two ponds where they died.

By KATHY SAUNDERS
Published August 17, 2005

TREASURE ISLAND - Ducks have been dropping like flies at the city golf course at Treasure Bay.

City recreation officials believe the ducks were poisoned and they have hired an environmental consulting firm to test the water.

About three weeks ago, workers began hauling away the carcasses of ducks, egrets and herons from the two ponds at the city's nine-hole course on Paradise Island. They counted at least 40 dead birds.

"We have no duck population left," said City Recreation Director Cathy Hayduke. "We have no clue what happened. It has baffled us.

"Whatever it was, it was only attacking the birds," she said. "We have fish and crabs in the pond and it didn't affect any of them. So we don't think it was Red Tide.

"It's a mystery," she said, adding that city workers were very fond of the ducks.

"We used to bring them bread to eat in the maintenance shed and one of my employees had a little swimming pool for them," Hayduke said.

Neighbors also noticed the dwindling bird population.

"There were roseate spoonbills out there everyday," said Patricia Howerter whose Village of Paradise Island home overlooks the golf course. "This place used to be covered with birds and it was turning into a beautiful bird sanctuary."

The ponds, located between the sixth and seventh holes and the eighth and ninth holes, have been home to osprey and eagles too.

"Now, I look out and I see maybe four little white birds," Howerter said this week.

Her neighbor, Neil Soldwedel, said one day he spotted eight dead birds on the pond.

"The ducks went first, then it was the white egrets and the trend just kept going and going," he said. "I know some people don't like the ducks or the brown doves, but to kill them is unthinkable."

Hayduke said she took one lethargic duck to the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary but the duck did not survive.

She checked with the management company at the nearby condominiums and she contacted the company that treats algae in the pond for the city.

"Nobody has done anything different," Hayduke said. City officials finally decided to pay a consultant $130 an hour to have the water samples studied. The results are expected in a few weeks.

Meanwhile, Hayduke said the city hasn't had to remove any dead birds in the past few days.

"I think they were poisoned, I'm just not sure how," Hayduke said.

[Last modified August 17, 2005, 01:09:16]