A couple of years ago, I was standing in the Rocky River reservation, not moving, so that the birds around me would come out. A red tail hawk landed about 3 feet away (hunting the chipmunks). I was able to watch him for a couple of minutes before I moved slightly enough to signal my presence. It was a once in a lifetime experience for me. Thanks for the photo of this gorgeous creature.

DDT nearly wiped-out these as well.

what are you saying, here oengus?

Bed Bugs are comming back as well, DDT being banned brought back eagles and bed bugs both? 

It is a good thing that we have spiders to eat the bed bugs. If we welcomed spiders into our homes as companions, there would be less "pests" to worry about,

All we have to do is find spiders that build webs in the folds of fabric? I think you would need a spider hatchery, it would be like putting spider on your dogs back to control the fleas.

I have been hearing this first hand and that always scares me, a person in NYC and one in S.C. have them. Not easy to get rid of...a very serious problem. Reading about a shooting in the paper is not the same as seeing one on your street.

I talked to our exterminator, remember I manage commercial property you have to have one in the city. Well actually you don't but bugs/rodents can overwhelm an apartment complex. Bed Bugs are really hard to get rid of.

He said that he has been getting more and more calls on them, the pest control industry says a 71% increase in calls from 2000-2005, NYC has big issues with them, NC had reported 1 in 4 hotels have them!

I will be pissed if we get them, its like grenades going off around me.

Bed Bug are literally vampires, they hate day light and live on your blood. Then you have the whole blood born diseases…and yes they can carry them, the probability is low for contraction as is the probability of coming in contact with the condition in your home. But in hotel that changes, you could be sleeping in a bed that just gorged on hepatitis and is ready to give it to you.

In the 1930’s all the underclass in England had bed bugs, in many developing countries the majority of the population in rural areas have scabies.

Pyrethrins do not work on bed bugs…

I like bugs just not parasites, that live on me in my home.

I like eagles but they will kill small dogs and cats, they are not to big they just bite through a majior artery. They eat them on the ground, I've seen dead cats around here. 

Ewwwww!  Bed bugs, are disgusting.  When I was a child they were a problem in our home and I would get a rash from the bites, very uncomfortable.  I don't remember what we did to get rid of them exactly but I do remember taking all the mattresses off the beds and cleaning all the corners with something.  Whatever was used it was affective and we got rid of them.  My husband also remembers having them when he was young.  He remembers his mother burning them off of the springs on the beds with a match.  Does anyone know why they are making a comeback? 

Cheap airline prices and extensive international travel, spread mostly through hotels.

The people that I know that have them are freaking, they also did an interesting piece on NPR about a month ago.

Wikipedia has info on it …and it is filled with second hand references from unreliable sources as it often is. It claims that modern bed bugs become more active when exposed to DDT; then sites a link to an unrelated article from the BBC?

Funny the guy in NYC that has them; his mother is a professor of environmental law….she says the reason they are back is the ban on the use of DDT.

The ban had to do with the way it was being used indiscriminately and the eagle exposed to how it was subseguently used in agriculture and it was subsequently banned.

DDT was banned with the exception to disease vector control, it will come back to treat bed bugs watch as they are spreading silently. It does and will require action and aggressive action because there are as many as 40 blood born pathogens that can live in the gut of a bed bug.

You say that there are 40 blood born pathogens that can live in the gut of a bed bug. Do you know the short term and long term effects of the chemicals used to exterminate them? There has got to be a better way. Your pointing out the reference to ddt as enhancing the population of bed bugs is something that should make you wary of using even more pesticides/insecticides/herbicides.

I though this might  the place to ask.

I was cycling past the Kinsman side of the Sidaway foot bridge when I noticed a nest in one of it's towers - a big nest.  Could it be a hawk's nest?  Too bad i didn't have my camera with me.

Jeff, those are the most wonderful photos of red tail's.  I thoroughly enjoyed.  Thanks

I think the hawk is dealing something on his feet maybe getting rid of bed bugs lol :P