- Hello, Jeff - Grackles again. The grackles could be
dying from poisoning but the pelicans in Florida... that is something else.
Combine this with bird die off in Argentina and it is extremely disturbing.
Would like to make a plea again for people to feed birds over the winter.
You just don't know how I enjoy watching the birds. Some even eat seeds
from my hands now. Patty
-
-
- BIRD DIE-OFF - USA (FLORIDA, TEXAS): REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
*************
-
- A ProMED-mail post <http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
-
- Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2003 09:26:47 -0000 From: A-Lan Banks
<A-Lan.Banks@derwent.co.uk> Source: Naples Daily News [edited] <http://www.naplesnews.com/03/01/naples/d882612a.htm>
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-
- Pelicans dying from Tampa to Naples
- -----------------------------------
- Scientists are still trying to determine whether it was
cold-weather stress or other factors that led to the death of dozens of
brown pelicans from the Tampa area south to Naples. Reports of dead pelicans
began springing up in mid-December 2002, about the same time that a cold
weather pattern spread over the region. Biologists in Gainesville are testing
pelicans for any evidence of West Nile virus or exposure to red tide. The
results should be available in a couple of weeks.
-
- The topic of the birds' deaths was raised on Monday during
an Estero Bay Agency on Bay Management (ABM) meeting in North Fort Myers.
The non-regulatory agency monitors development, the environment, and other
related issues within the Estero Bay watershed. "We started having
people come into the office and calling about dead pelicans," said
Heather Stafford, director of the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve and an ABM
member. "They were mostly in Hurricane Bay." Hurricane Bay is
a small water body east of Fort Myers Beach that connects to Estero Bay.
Stafford said she was unsure how many dead birds were reported. The number
of reported dead pelicans in the Estero Bay area have dropped in recent
weeks. "It sounds like (scientists) are thinking it was more cold-related
than anything."
-
- ABM chair Jim Beever said the reasons for the pelican
deaths could include cold-stress, starvation, or even pollution that has
built up in the pelicans' systems. "Sometimes when the fish are not
where they're supposed to be and the birds expect them there, there may
be some starvation involved," Beever said. "Then there may be
malnutrition, which leads to susceptibility to disease." Beever said
several frozen pelican carcasses were sent to a laboratory at the University
of Florida for testing. "The majority of birds sent in were immature,"
Beever said. "There's also potential that there are certain diseases
that strike this way."
-
- Alex Kropp, an assistant regional biologist for the Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said the lack of food is a possible
reason for the pelican deaths. "It seems like we've seen more brown
pelicans inland this year, so it could be food supply," Kropp said
from his Lakeland office. "A fair number of them were juveniles, so
that leads us to believe it was lack of food." Juveniles need about
a year to acquire the hunting skills displayed by their skydiving elders.
Juveniles are also more affected by cold spells. Kropp said more than half
of all brown pelicans don't survive their first year. Recent blood tests
on pelicans at the Center for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife, or CROW,
on Sanibel Island showed low levels of protein. Tests for toxins were not
performed on those birds.
-
- ******
-
- [2] Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2003 09:26:47 -0000 From: A-Lan
Banks <A-Lan.Banks@derwent.co.uk> Source: Seguin Gazette Enterprise,
Texas [edited] <http://web.seguingazette.com/report.lasso?wcd=3174>
-
-
- While one area scientist said the deaths of more than
150 grackles at 2 area shopping centers should be cause for alarm, local
authorities still say it is too soon to tell.
-
- Lane Gergely, who is a microbiologist with Sure Life
and Legend Laboratories, said there is every reason for the community at
large to be concerned. "They think this is chemical in nature, but
I am concerned that they did not take proper precautions," Gergely
said. "They (the birds) hemorrhaged internally, they (their organs)
were mush, and it did not come from anything they ingested. Somebody either
poisoned them with a chemical that travels through the skin or it's viral
and bacterial in nature."
-
- Merchants at the Plaza Del Rey shopping center were shocked
on Wednesday to discover the north end of the parking lot littered with
the carcasses of more than 150 grackles when they came to work. About 150
grackles were recovered at Plaza Del Rey with at least 10 more discovered
across the street in a parking lot. Plaza Del Rey merchants said they had
spoken with an official with Trammell Crow, the commercial real estate
company that has a financial interest in the shopping center, and learned
the company had experienced a similar incident at one of their properties
in San Antonio. Attempts to contact officials with Trammell Crow were unsuccessful.
-
- Meanwhile, Animal Control Supervisor Randall Springs
said several samples of the dead birds had already been sent to the Texas
Department of Health, the Texas Animal Health Commission, and the Texas
Parks and Wildlife Department, with more being sent out to the US Fish
and Wildlife Service in Madison, Wisconsin. Springs said it was still too
early to tell just what caused all these birds to die en masse so suddenly,
but that everything that could be done was being done. "It could be
a number of things," he said. "There is no telling. I went with
Parks and Wildlife, and there are no more dead birds. I guess if there
is something really bad we'll know in a few days."
-
- No matter how bad it is, it's something the community
needs to be aware of, Gergely said. She said whatever was used to kill
the birds could have been used elsewhere. "I'm not a chemist, I am
a microbiologist, but I do know epidemiology. And this thing just had to
have happened very rapidly to cause that," she said. "It's a
real scary thing, and it's something the community needs to be worried
about." Gergely said a virus carried by these birds or any possible
poison used to kill them could ultimately affect humans. "If a human
gets enough of this, it could have the same effect," she said. "We
need to find who did this, where it came from, and how they got hold of
it." In small doses, Gergely said there could be symptoms in the community
that could crop up later that are comparable to the effects of Agent Orange
on Vietnam veterans.
-
- Because of the implications to other species and the
fact this occurred in such a public place, Gergely said she was considering
asking the Environmental Protection Agency to come in and investigate the
matter. "Whatever happens, it's not good. Whether it's chemical, viral,
or biological, it can affect humans," she said.
-
- ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org
-
- (These 2 communications from 2 very different locations
-- Gulf coast of Florida and central Texas -- are being posted more for
background information than the probability that either is due to an infectious
process. The Texas grackle report is very likely to be of a poisoning.
It is the wrong time of year for a vector-borne disease. The deaths of
150 birds "all at once" suggests an acute exposure to a chemical
agent with a fixed lead time to death. Grackles are very noisy birds, widespread
in Texas, and have many human enemies. The birds could simply have been
in the wrong place at the wrong time; they might have previously ingested
crop-sprayed chemicals, but died only after roosting in trees near the
malls. Bird deaths associated with crop-spraying are not unusual at this
time of the year. Sea birds, such as pelicans, are exposed to a wide range
of pollutants and toxins. Such die-offs are good sentinel events, and one
never knows until the lab report comes in -- and not always then -- what
caused them. Better to be vigilant but cautious than to ignore them. When
the respective reports become available, we would appreciate being updated
on the probable causes. - Mod.MHJ) .........................ab/mhj/pg/sh
-
-
- Bird Die-Off In Argentina - Pesticides? West Nile Virus?
-
- From Environmental Risk Analysis Program envrisk@cornell.edu
1-16-3
-
- This posting is forwarded from ProMED mail (id: 20030110.0086).
Both listservs are eager to hear from ornithologists, with insights and
additional information. Send to <promed@promedmail.org> and <WESTNILEVIRUS-L@cornell.edu>:
-
- Bird Die-Off - Agentina (Buenos Aires)
-
- Source Telam 9 Jan 2003 (in Spanish, translated &
edited by Mod. JW) http://www.telam.com.ar/central_sin13720030109.htm
-
- Approximately 100 birds have died [suddenly] in the last
few days in the streets of Bartolome Bavio, part of Magdalena, Buenos
Aires [Province], including pigeons, thrushes, cardinals,and fieldfares.
It is suspected that they died from eating pesticide-contaminated food.
-
- ProMED-mail moderator's comments:
-
- Rodenticide is often spread on corn, and pigeons will
eat the bait,while insectivorous birds may eat insects dying from insecticide
poisoning. But in these days when we are on the lookout for the arrival
of West Nile virus in South America, it would be important to exclude that
diagnosis. Perhaps an ornithologist reader can tell us whether any of
the species mentioned are likely to be recently arrived migrants from North
America. We would like to receive more details of this outbreak. - Mod.
JW
-
- _____
-
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