Lead bullets kill millions of birds in the US each year when they eat spent ammunition, mistaking it for grit or seeds. "If non-lead ammunition is good enough for the U.S. military, with all their ballistics and performance testing, it should be good enough for hunters," says George Fenwick, President of American Bird Conservancy. The organization is encouraging hunters to voluntarily switch from traditional lead-based ammunition to non-lead alternatives. California Condor:Hunters and manufacturers say non-lead ammunition costs more, but with the military adopting it, that could bring down costs. In 2010, the military converted the 5.56 millimeter a non-lead bullet, eliminating nearly 2,000 tons of lead from the environment.