38 ILLINOIS AUDUBON BULLETIN 
Guest Editorial 
BLACKBIRDS, SCARE TACTICS, AND 
IRRESPONSIBLE LEGISLATION 
by JEROME A. JACKSON 
Editor, The Wilson Bulletin 
A friend of mine once commented that there are only 2 ways that a legislator can 
responsibily vote on legislation: (1) he can vote according to the expressed wishes of 
his constituency, or (2) he can vote following his own convictions after having 
thoroughly studied the pros and cons of a particular bill. On 27 January 1976 a bill 
was introduced into both houses of Congress that would allow Kentucky and 
Tennessee to bypass environmental laws so that they might eliminate millions of 
blackbirds by spraying them on their roosts with the pesticide Tergitol. The bill was 
passed by the Senate and House on the day it was introduced and was quickly signed 
into law by President Ford. Since there was no opportinity for citizens to express 
their feelings to their legislators and since the bill was passed without legislators 
having an opportunity to study both sides of the issue, I can only conclude that a 
majority of our legislators voted irresponsibly. 
Environmental groups have expressed serious concern over the passage of this 
bill because it allows a special interest group to circumvent the National 
Environmental Policy Act and other federal laws. A dangerous precedent has been 
set. Recognizing the seriousness of these broader implications of the blackbird bill, I 
would like to comment on the specific problem which precipitated this legislation. 
Few people would want a blackbird roost in their back yard or perhaps even 
within a kilometer of their residence. Blackbird roosts smell, an accumulation of 
excrement may kill vegetation in the roost, there may be a health hazard due to the 
growth of the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum in the nitrogen-rich soil beneath the 
roost, and some blackbird species feed on agricultural crops. The first two negative 
effects of a blackbird roost are obvious, but do not have dangerous or enduring 
consequences. The second 2 effects are controversial, but are continually recited in 
the popular press and on radio and television in attempts to gain support for 
blackbird “eradication” programs. We hear a lot about the dangers of histoplasmosis 
associated with blackbird roosts, but no one has quantified this danger nor has the 
relative importance of blackbird roosts as reservoirs for the fungus been examined. 
Unfortunately most of the literature concerning histoplasmosis is in medical journals, 
though I have elsewhere summarized and interpreted some of this literature as it 
relates to birds (Jackson, Inland Bird Banding News 45:52-57, 1973). The spores of 
Histoplasma are dispersed from the soil by the wind and the fungus grows not only 
in blackbird roosts, but anywhere there is a high concentration of nitrogen in the soil. 
Poultry farms are important natural reservoirs for the fungus. They tend to be much 
more permanent than blackbird roosts and the ground is often bare, thus increasing 
