Health Problems

balistar
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Re: Health Problems

Post by balistar »

Mystery illness strikes down birds across US south and midwest

"A mysterious illness is killing birds across several states in the south and midwestern US, and wildlife scientists are rushing to try to find the cause, with many victims suffering from crusty eyes, swollen faces and the inability to fly.

Wildlife managers in Washington, Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia first began receiving reports of sick and dying birds with eye swelling and crusty discharge, as well as neurological signs in late May, according to a statement from the US Geological Survey, which added: “No definitive cause of death is identified at this time.”

In Kentucky, the department of fish and wildlife resources is asking the public to report encounters with sick and dead birds through a new online reporting system. They say the species affected thus far have included blue jays, common grackles and European starlings, but other species may also be affected. More than 20 samples have been sent out for testing.

In Ohio, the Ohio Wildlife Center posted on Facebook that it has been admitting songbirds with eye issues and is working with authorities to help determine what might be causing local birds to become sick. Indiana wildlife officials said they tested the birds for avian influenza and west Nile virus, and the samples came back negative.

...

Bird mortality events are not all that uncommon. Last year, hundreds of migratory birds dropped dead in New Mexico in a massive die-off.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... vation-aoe
After analyzing samples and testing theories, the New Mexico department of game and fish eventually concluded that the birds had died from starvation and unexpectedly bad weather.

“Migrating birds entered New Mexico in poor body condition and some birds were already succumbing to starvation,” the agency wrote. “The unusual winter storm exacerbated conditions, likely causing birds to become disoriented and fly into objects and buildings. Some were struck by vehicles and many landed on the ground where cold temperatures, ice, snow and predators killed them.”

According to a 2007 study, mass mortality events are often tied to weather.

This new disease-fueled die-off comes at a time when birds are facing unprecedented challenges. The US has lost more than a quarter of bird populations in just the last 50 years, according to a 2019 study. The study authors write: “This loss of bird abundance signals an urgent need to address threats to avert future avifaunal collapse and associated loss of ecosystem integrity, function, and services.”

24 June 2021
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... th-midwest
balistar
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Post by balistar »

maybe this is not the right place to post ?

it affects all of us, all living things around the world ....



A record-breaking heat wave that descended on the Pacific Northwest, USA

Temperatures in Portland, Oregon, soared to 116 which topped a previous all-time high. (116 degrees = 46,6°C)

"We’re going to have to get used to this going forward,” said Kristie Ebi, a professor at the University of Washington who studies global warming and its effects on public health.

2021/06/28 - the whole article:
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... 783841002/

....

EDIT: 2021/06/30 - wikipedia.org

The 2021 Western North America heat wave is an ongoing extreme heat wave in much of the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada, particularly, in western Nevada, Northern California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho in the United States, as well as British Columbia, and in the later phase, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon and Northwest Territories in Canada.[1] The heat wave also affected inland areas of central and Southern California,[2] as well as northwestern and southern Nevada, though the temperatures were not as extreme as compared to the regions farther north.

The heat wave appeared due to an exceptionally strong ridge centered over the area and the effects of climate change.[3]

The heat wave caused some of the highest temperatures ever recorded in the region,[4] including the highest temperature ever measured in Canada at 49.6 °C (121.3 °F).

The heat wave increased air conditioning usage, triggered flooding due to rapid snow melt, caused wildfire conditions, disrupted agriculture, and degraded transportation infrastructure. During the heat wave, over 100 more deaths than average were recorded in Greater Vancouver within a four-day period.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_West ... _heat_wave
Walshman98
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Post by Walshman98 »

Where in BC? Lower mainland??
balistar
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Post by balistar »

Walshman98 wrote: December 22nd, 2021, 11:32 pm Where in BC? Lower mainland??
sorry, Walshman, only now i saw your question, which i can't answer. Please click on the Wiki-link above, scroll a bit downwards, there to BC, it is specified there in more detail.
balistar
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Post by balistar »

Bird flu is raging in the North Sea
The highly contagious virus is present in Europe for the whole summer for the first time. Scientists collect thousands of dead adult birds from breeding colonies whose chicks are starving.

Just a few weeks ago, 4,500 nesting pairs of sandwich terns lived on Texel - the highest concentration in the entire Wadden Sea. "Now there are maybe 50 left," says Mardik Leopold on the phone from his laboratory. "Everyone else is dead"

Leopold and his colleagues have already collected 3,500 adult birds in the past few weeks, and many more are likely to be floating in the sea and never be found. Texel is not an isolated case: thousands of sandwich terns and other birds are also dying from the virus epidemic south-west on the French coast near Calais and north-east in the German Wadden Sea.

Sandwich tern is threatened with extinction in the region.

In addition to sandwich terns, black-headed gulls and isolated birds of prey that have eaten the carrion of the dead animals are also affected.
(google-translated)


the whole article from 03.07.2022 of spektrum.de, in German, here:
https://www.spektrum.de/news/seuchen-vo ... ee/2036290
balistar
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Post by balistar »

29. Juli 2022 -
At the end of June, Heligoland seemed to be virus-free when H5N1 was already raging in the world's largest colony of gannets on the Scottish island of Bass Rock. Since mid-June there have been increasing reports of dead and sick gannets, including along the north Danish North Sea coast.

Now it is sad certainty: Germany's only colony of gannets on Helgoland is now also affected.

The northern gannet is extremely rare in Germany.
It breeds – together with other species of offshore birds that occur very locally here, such as guillemots, razorbills and fulmars – only on the bird cliffs of the offshore island.

While the population here at the beginning of the 2022 breeding season was just under 1,500 breeding pairs, estimates assume that a third of the nests are currently deserted. At least 170 dead young birds have been recovered so far - either starving after the death of the parent birds or falling victim to the virus themselves. It is difficult to say how many of the animals were infected overall. Many infected adult birds die at sea.
(google-translated)

the whole, 29.07.2022 NABU, in German, here: https://www.nabu.de/news/2022/07/32021.html
balistar
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Post by balistar »

balistar wrote: August 7th, 2022, 2:46 pm Bird flu is raging in the North Sea
....

06. August 2022, in the German news: Great Britain and the Netherlands are now also reporting larger outbreaks
https://www.tagesschau.de/thema/vogelgrippe/
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Polly
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Post by Polly »

Balistar :hi:

Yes, we also follow this news. Thank you for bringing it in.
I had prepared a post but not finished it. In general, the attention and interest here is not too great.

Not sure if it's also highlighted in the Nabu report but at least one post mentioned it...it concerns observed waterfowl exactly.
We live 12km from Kiel. And this year we have a striking number of seagulls in the surrounding area... in the village (and they are attacking our cherry harvest :mrgreen: ). Not right on the water. But the gulls will bring in this virus.

It's a pity, because we were also able to observe many swallows, finally many blackbirds (which were very few after the last big Usutus outbreak.) and buzzards and small falcons. The good year is put into perspective again.

Found dead owls...but not sure if it was the virus.
(Private talk with a local bird watcher)


Our neighboring and holiday country Denmark is also affected.
Many terns fall victim.
https://www.nordschleswiger.dk/de/nords ... eschwalben
"Throw your heart across the river and swim after it."
Indian proverb
balistar
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Post by balistar »

:hi: Polly,

oh, now already also Denmark, that means then the whole Wadden Sea.... it's just so incredible sad :(

I have to admit, i only became aware of it through yesterday's report in the news.

Although i'm here at the other end of Germany, in the southwest (our cherry harvest is long over :D ), far away from any coast, i'm still very shocked.

Also here with us we can see a lot of house martins this year, a fortunately increased number of blackbirds (2 pairs have bred near me, 1 pair even twice, and both pairs visited my birdfeeder and birdbath several times a day, in addition to the usual sparrow gang and several tits), as well as a pair of common buzzards with 3 young and a pair of kestrels with 2 young. One day i even saw a red kite here, (still) rare here, we have more black kites.
But -as you said- the good year is put into perspective again.


Wish you a nice Sunday, despite the sad news.
Jo UK
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Post by Jo UK »

Avian influenza in Scotland
RSPB June 2022

https://community.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/b ... -june-2022
The article is longer than I have posted. The link will give more.

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Polly
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Post by Polly »

What can we do?
Don't rob stocks. Avoid wild capture and consumption of animal products/reduce consumption.

What I am considering very carefully - to remove our feeder.
We already did that 3 years ago when the usutus virus spread.

It's emotionally frustrating because birds adapt quickly to a reliable food source and we feel like we're letting them down. But birds don't have time for long faces - they keep searching nimbly
Let's make our terraces, balconies and gardens more colourful! Away with noble weeds such as geraniums & Co. It needs nature that bears pollen and fruit. We need more bugs and bugs...worms.

Any wild garden is tastier and more effective than philistinism (does Google translate that?).
to German - Spießertum
"Throw your heart across the river and swim after it."
Indian proverb
Jo UK
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Post by Jo UK »

We have bird feeders here. I am encouraging neighbours to omit bird food on alternate days. Birds, especially these young ones, recently, need to learn their natural food sources. Food provided by humans is not part of the natural cycle but we do it becasuse we like to see birds closer to our homes and we feel virtuous when we do good deeds!
Water is an essential that I like to provide. Then I can curse at that blasted pigeon that uses the water bowl as a bird bath.
Oh well, he enjoyed it!
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Post by Jo UK »

Polly :hi:
Google translate gives
Spießertum - philistinism


Philistinism - the attitude or quality of not caring about, understanding, or liking good art, music, or literature.
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Polly
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Post by Polly »

Okay, I prefer 'bourgeois'. :D
Thank you! :2thumbsup:

Food provided by humans is not part of the natural cycle but we do it becasuse we like to see birds closer to our homes and we feel virtuous when we do good deeds!
Also. Among other things.
However, I also see disadvantages. Among other things, we selectively attract predators (hawks) as well as rodents.
Everyone wants to see cute little birds, but many are upset when the sparrowhawk also recognizes this (for itself) food source.
And currently... again - collection and transmission point for diseases.
Territorial struggles are also encouraged.

We fed initially in the winter. Exclusively.
Continued feeding when we realized - there is indeed a shortage of insects.
In addition, and let's look around - every third garden becomes a rock garden with lots of lawn. A lot of nature is cultivated. The plant world is becoming more and more modern and is not suitable for promoting the natural food chain.

I don't know what and how we can do it right.

Halftime feeding is probably a good middle ground. :nod:
"Throw your heart across the river and swim after it."
Indian proverb
balistar
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Post by balistar »

:hi: Jo, and hi again Polly,

i slowly wean my visitors to the birdfeeder throughout May every year, just as breastfeeding mothers do with their babies.
With the bird bath i manage it in such a way that i have 2 bowls that i use alternately, every day one is freshly filled while the other dries up completely for 24 hours.

Fortunately, the magpies and crows as well as the collared pigeons stay away from the birdbath :D

Incidentally, in my modest garden there are heaps of beetles, earthworms, insects of all kinds such as bees, bumblebees, hoverflies and, yes, numerous butterflies.
Various grasshoppers and praying mantis complete the crowd - oh, i forgot the lizards and the hedgehogs- , and for the 3rd time a praying mantis has deposited her ootheca with me (close to the terrace).

In addition to tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes and peppers, i let insect-friendly flowers blooming and in between grow various herbs all over the place - they complement my beautiful roses and the birds and insect visitors reliably eat the aphids - a win-win situation. I never used any chemistry (haha, and my roses are here in the street the most beautiful :laugh: ) .
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Post by Jo UK »

balistar, any insect, bird or reptilian will make a pathway to your garden.
Two weeks ago I read that hedgehogs are dying of dehydration - it has been so dry and hot here. So now I have very shallow water bowls spread around my and my neighbour's gardens and I refill them daily. I am sure thehy are playing at mudpies at the bowl under a rose bush. I have to wash it out every day!
balistar
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Post by balistar »

Jo, that's it, exactly, why i every morning put the other bowl with fresh water out and clean the one from the day before very carefully. Edit: Allowing one bowl to dry out for 24 hours ensures that any pathogens are dead, as there are some that survive in the smallest wet spot or crack left behind.
The hedgehogs come drinking when it gets dark and in the night, and often they leave poo in the near of the water bowl.

Once i happened to see one male wooing a female, dancing few times around her - then he was successful and they mated - that was under the peony bushes, they thought they are hidden 8-) (nevertheless i catched them with my camera :laugh: )

But not only from dehydration are many hedgehogs dying at the moment, unfortunately many of them are killed or terribly injured by the lawnmower robots, severed limbs etc., because some people leave their devices running unattended and yes, even at night. The devices do not recognize the hedgehogs and hedgehogs cannot see well and cannot avoid them.
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