Scientists Track Buildup Of Mercury In Upstate New York Songbirds

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Mr. Evers, who is executive director of the BioDiversity Research Institute, a nonprofit research and education group in Gorham, Me., is looking for signs of mercury in the songbirds. He has a pretty good hunch that he will find it, as he has already found mercury in songbirds in the Adirondacks and in New England. If substantial amounts of mercury show up in the blood and feathers he has collected, it could spell trouble for the watershed and, potentially, for the nine million people who rely on the New York drinking water that comes from here because it would mean that the toxin is present in ways that were previously unknown. "It's far more extensive than was ever put forth to the public," Mr. Evers said.

Mercury contamination has long been present in lakes, rivers and the city's reservoirs. Mercury, a liquid metal, does not get into water because of broken thermometers, as some believe. Rather, mercury occurs naturally in the earth, including in coal. It is released into the air by coal-burning power plants and other sources. Emissions from power plants in the Midwest drift toward New York. The real problem comes when the airborne mercury comes into contact with water and is transformed into its toxic form, methylmercury. Although the water in New York City's Catskill reservoirs is considered safe to drink, state health officials have posted advisories warning that pregnant women and children ought to limit their consumption of bass, trout and other fish caught in the reservoirs because the fish have absorbed some of the toxic material.

Until recently, the mercury problem was thought to be limited to water. The discovery of mercury in songbirds that never go into the water may represent a serious new threat.

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Mr. Evers and Mr. White say that it makes sense to think of forest songbirds as early warning systems, like the canaries that used to be carried into coal mine shafts. If the canaries died, miners hurried out of the mines because they knew that dangerous methane or carbon monoxide was present. In the same way, unnatural levels of mercury in songbirds could be interpreted as a sign of pending danger in the forests. In loons and other water birds, excessive levels of mercury cause erratic behavior and lower birthrates.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/08/nyregion/08mercury.html