by Washington (AP) – Bird flu has destroyed poultry and dairy farms and has sent the price for eggs in the USA since it was discovered in North America for the first time at the end of 2021.
But what was the tribute of wild birds? More than 170 species of North American wild birds – including ducks, geese, seagulls, owls, eagles and others – were infected with bird flu.
If you take precautionary measures against sick or dead wild birds, experts recommend. But you can keep your bird feeder up. Despite the spread of birds and other wild animals, scientists say that the threat to the general population is currently low.
What wild birds can bird flu get?
According to the US farm department, more than 12,000 individual birds have tested positively since the beginning of the virus.
The county is a “rough underestimation” because most dead birds are never brought to a laboratory, said Bryan Richards in the National Wildlife Health Center of the US Geological Survey in Madison, Wisconsin.
You can wear the virus with a few symptoms with a few symptoms, since “these viruses developed in water birds,” said Richards. Ducks can also pour the virus into their feces or saliva and sometimes infect other birds or mammals such as foxes.
Birds without natural immunity that migrate or grow together in large herds such as geese are most likely to die in large numbers. A recent outbreak of bird flu under the migration sip in Grebes in Utah killed between 15,000 and 25,000 birds near Great Salt Lake, said state wildlife officials in early February.
Sea birds, which tend to be burdened in large numbers, are also heavily influenced.
Singing birds such as northern cardinals, Blue Jays or Chickadees – the kind of birds that could visit bird feed – can also be infected and die, but their population does not seem to do better, since they do not accurately gather in large groups in which the virus could spread, said Michael J. Parr, President of the American Bird Conservancy.
What are bird flu symptoms in wild birds?
The symptoms vary, but can include lack of coordination, inability to fly and shortness of breath.
“When people see that a wild bird is strange, the best thing they can do is their local wildlife rehabilitator” and avoid treating them directly, “said Dr. Dana Franzen-Klein, veterinary doctor and medical director of the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota.
If you have to handle an infected bird, wear gloves and a mask as a precaution.
Is it certain to have a back yard bird house?
Experts say that bird feeding houses are generally safe and are not a remarkable source for the spread of bird flu.
But if you also keep backyard chickens, Parr of the American Bird Conservancy recommends taking the bird healer down to prevent possible transmission of poultry. Bird springs and nesting boxes should also be cleaned regularly.
The risk of spread to people of birdhouses is “very, very low,” he said.
How does the outbreak of bird flu affect endangered bird species?
In the case of critically endangered California condors, scientists organized a vaccination program after some birds have been infected. But that’s not a realistic option for most wild bird species.
Instead, experts recommend giving wild birds the best chance by taking other steps to protect habitats and reduce various risks from which species are exposed, such as: B. pesticides or bleim.
White head lake eagle, which are protected nationwide, but are no longer at risk, are aa -eaters who eat dead animals. “In this first year we lost many eagles,” probably from Weißkopfseadlern who eat infected ducks or bring them to their nests, said Richards.
Scientists also documented an unusually high number of eagle chicks that did not survive in adulthood during the first breeding season after the virus appeared in North America, probably because the chicks could not adequately feed the virus or sick parents.
In the course of time, the number of confirmed infections in Eagles nationwide from 427 last year in 2022 decreased to 48.
This may mean that Eagles who survived the first year have a certain immunity, said Franzen-Klein. In the past migration season, the researchers counted a record number of Weißkopfseadlers through Nord -Minnesota.
“There are good signs of hope” that Eagles relax in the region, she said.
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