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Birds: The White Sea Eagles of Parramatta

A really beautiful bird species

a. a. gallagher
ILLUMINATION
4 min readMay 22, 2021

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Unsplash — Joshua Hoehne

And so the devastation of life on earth continues, but this time it is the avian life form that seeks the limelight in the worst possible way. I read the article “Who is saving the great birds of Sydney” by John Huxley in Saturdays’ newspaper “The Sydney Morning Herald” dated Saturday, March 14–15 2009.

The article was about the beautiful White Sea eagles that are being systematically poisoned by the twenty-year build-up of chemical detritus around Homebush Bay and in the Parramatta River’s waterways. Dioxins are poisons that affect the fish that the birds eat for their survival and are being blamed for the high bird mortality rate. The most heavily polluted areas, it seems, are around Neutral Bay and Rushcutters Bay where the prime offenders are pesticides and heavy metals. Chemical poisons equal water equals shellfish equals fish equals birds and finally equals death. And so the great cycle of life slows down: halts.

Birds are dropping out of the sky, literally. The lack of care directly results in death to these members of a most stunningly beautiful bird species. I understand from the article that at least seven of these birds have died over the past years. But money is money and after all, birds cannot supply that all-important dollar to man.

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ILLUMINATION
ILLUMINATION

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a. a. gallagher
a. a. gallagher

Written by a. a. gallagher

Thank you for reading & following. I love a jolly good story: I write short stories, enviro. poetry, and kids’ rhymes. Prev. Education includes a. Dip. S.R.M.

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