Avian influenza hitting snow geese, raptors hardest among wild birds in North Dakota

GRAND FORKS – Roger Furstenau was searching snow geese west of Edmore, North Dakota, not too long ago when he seen a number of of the usually cautious birds simply weren’t appearing proper.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has provided a spring hunt – formally referred to as a “conservation order” in government-speak – for the previous 20 years as a part of a continental effort to cut back overabundant populations of snow geese, that are damaging the delicate Arctic ecosystem the place they breed.

North Dakota’s spring hunt, which opened Feb. 19 and continues via Could 15, is timed to coincide with the interval when hundreds of thousands of the sunshine geese migrate via the state in big flocks en path to their breeding grounds alongside the Hudson Bay shoreline.

“Anyplace the place you’d see these huge flocks (of snow geese) sit for any time period, there’d be some birds that simply couldn’t rise up to go,” Furstenau, of Cavalier, North Dakota, mentioned.

Some snow geese had been already lifeless, Furstenau says, and in a single case, he and his searching companions had been capable of stroll proper as much as three birds strolling among the many decoys.

One other chicken they noticed was having what gave the impression to be a seizure, he says. The variety of sick or lifeless snow geese they encountered was unsettling.

“Only a horrible sight,” Furstenau mentioned. “After we noticed what it seemed like, you might inform, ‘Right here comes one other sick chicken.’

“It was fairly alarming – sort of unhappy.”

The sick or lifeless snow geese Furstenau and others have seen this spring anyplace alongside the birds’ migration hall in North Dakota are casualties of the lethal H5N1 Extremely Pathogenic Avian Influenza that has been ravaging home poultry flocks in Minnesota and North Dakota.

Amongst wild birds in North Dakota, snow geese and raptors have been hardest-hit, mentioned Dr. Charlie Bahnson, wildlife veterinarian for the North Dakota Recreation and Fish Division in Bismarck.

Snow geese began displaying up in North Dakota on March 18, Bahnson says, and the reviews of sick or lifeless snow geese started trickling in that very same day.

Based mostly on what they’d been listening to from different states, the reviews weren’t surprising, Bahnson says.

“Shortly after we began getting snow goose reviews, we began getting raptor reviews,” Bahnson mentioned. Almost the entire raptors examined had been testing constructive for avian influenza, he says.

The listing contains “fairly a number of” bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, great-horned owls, snowy owls and vultures.

“Just about each chicken that scavenges off a snow goose, we’re getting a few of them,” Bahnson mentioned. “Title your scavenging chicken, and a few of them appear to be dying in North Dakota.”

It’s tough to estimate what number of snow geese have died from the illness in North Dakota, but it surely’s seemingly within the 1000’s. Raptors, by comparability, have suffered “dozens” of casualties up to now, Bahnson says.

“When it comes to gauging severity, it’s sort of laborious to say (with snow geese) as a result of we’re speaking like 20 to 30 (sick or lifeless birds in a flock), and that first slug of snow geese that got here via was like 4 million,” Bahnson mentioned. “The last word proportion might be not excessive, but it surely’s nonetheless there.

“It definitely is having an impact.”

Recreation and Fish has labored with USDA Wildlife Providers personnel to check about 200 birds of a dozen species, Bahnson says, amassing samples which can be despatched to a federal lab for testing. It’s to the purpose, he says, the place they’re not amassing snow geese for testing, and are testing fewer red-tailed hawks and bald eagles, as nicely.

Now, except it’s a much less widespread species, they’re primarily recording the placement to maintain monitor of the place die-offs are occurring, he says.

Thus far, the division has obtained nearly 300 reviews of sick or lifeless birds from the general public via an

on-line Wildlife Mortality Report kind

on the Recreation and Fish web site, Bahnson says.

“It’s been a extremely useful manner for folks to be our eyes and ears on the market,” Bahnson mentioned. “If the general public sees a sick or lifeless chicken, we ask that they simply tell us, after which we are able to decide from there.”

Mark Fisher, wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Devils Lake, mentioned there have been a few websites in Ramsey County the place they’ve discovered as much as 80 lifeless snow geese. As with the Recreation and Fish Division, they’re not choosing up carcasses for testing or disposal, Fisher says.

It’s not unusual to drive down a prairie highway and discover “a number of lifeless ones on this area and three or 4 in that area,” Fisher says, after which see a number of extra lifeless or sick snow geese a number of miles down the highway.

Waterfowl die-offs up to now, no less than within the Lake Area, have been restricted to snow geese, Fisher says.

“Snow geese are so apparent,” he mentioned. “It’s not laborious to seek out snow geese on the panorama. Every time we’d discover any giant numbers, we’d actually drill down and search for floating geese, floating Canada geese, no matter.

“We didn’t see any.”

The Recreation and Fish Division has gotten a number of reviews of lifeless Canada geese, however this time of yr, they’re not congregated in giant flocks like snow geese, Bahnson says. As an alternative, Canada geese are paired up for breeding and spaced throughout the countryside.

The division additionally has obtained “a few reviews” of lifeless pheasants and turkeys, however Bahnson mentioned he hadn’t seen any check outcomes as of Thursday.

“Based mostly on what we all know concerning the virus, these species are in all probability fairly delicate. It’s only a matter of publicity,” he mentioned. “Pheasants and turkeys aren’t going to commingle with snow geese fairly often.”

Even when they did, any outbreak seemingly can be localized, Bahnson mentioned. The virus acts shortly, usually killing chickens and turkeys inside hours, a sample that’s not conducive to circulating throughout the panorama, he mentioned.

“One slough that’s bought some pheasants, you would possibly lose them however as a result of they don’t congregate en masse, I sort of doubt that we’re going to look at widespread mortality like that,” Bahnson mentioned. “In the end, it’s not on the prime of my issues.”

In current days, Bahnson says the division has gotten “fairly a number of” reviews of lifeless robins, meadowlarks and mourning doves. These birds, he says, almost definitely died through the blizzards and snowstorms which have pummeled elements of North Dakota the previous couple of weeks.

“We’re going to check a number of to rule (avian influenza) out, however sadly, wherever you’re within the state proper now, it’s sort of a tough time to be a chicken,” Bahnson mentioned.

Some organizations, resembling The Raptor Heart within the Twin Cities, have suggested a halt to yard chicken feeding, however the Recreation and Fish Division, just like the Minnesota Division of Pure Sources, merely recommends that individuals hold their chicken feeders and feeding websites clear, Bahnson says.

“Proper now, we haven’t any proof to point that songbirds or birds that will be at a chicken feeder are contributing” to the outbreak, he mentioned. “That being mentioned, we do know that quite a lot of ailments that may be deadly to songbirds might be transmitted via chicken feeders so we’d say that, total – this spring or every other spring – we’d at all times actually encourage good chicken feeder hygiene.”

Often cleansing feeders with a ten% bleach resolution and shifting feeders to totally different locations within the yard to keep away from buildup of feces can decrease potential dangers, Bahnson says. Anybody who sees a sick or lifeless chicken ought to take down the feeder for 2 weeks to let any potential pathogens break down.

The avian influenza now ravaging poultry and wild birds emerged within the late Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s in Eurasia, the place it has been circulating ever since, Bahnson says. The present variant, he says, represents the subsequent chapter in a narrative that started with a flare-up in 2014 throughout North America that fizzled out after the summer time of 2015.

“That was type of a special scenario the place there wasn’t almost the identical stage of mortality in wild birds,” Bahnson mentioned. “This time, in fact, the mortality in wild birds is kind of much more dramatic.

“I believe it would actually stay to be seen whether or not this virus goes to develop into established in our wild birds because it has in Eurasia, or if it would fizzle out prefer it did the final time in 2014-15. We’re actually, really sort of in uncharted territory with this explicit scenario.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service affords these common security tips for hunters dealing with wildlife and their tissues throughout an avian influenza outbreak:

• Don’t deal with or eat sick sport.
• Subject gown and put together sport open air or in a well-ventilated space.
• Put on rubber or disposable nitrile gloves whereas dealing with and cleansing sport.
• When finished dealing with sport, wash palms totally with cleaning soap or disinfectant, and clear knives, gear, and surfaces that got here in touch with sport.
• Don’t eat, drink, or smoke whereas dealing with animals.
• All sport must be totally cooked to an inner temperature of 165 levels F earlier than being consumed.

– Herald employees report