Bird Deaths Research Articles

West Nile Outbreak in Horses in Southern France, 2000: The Return after 35 Years

Abstract On September 6, 2000, two cases of equine encephalitis caused by West Nile (WN) virus were reported in southern France (Hérault Province), near Camargue National Park, where a WN outbreak occurred in 1962. Through November 30, 76 cases were laboratory confirmed among 131 equines with neurologic disorders. The last confirmed case was on November 3, 2000. All but three cases were located in a region nicknamed "la petite Camargue," which has several large marshes, numerous colonies of migratory and resident birds, and large mosquito populations. No human case has been confirmed among clinically suspected patients, nor have abnormal deaths of birds been reported. A serosurvey has been undertaken in horses in the infected area, and other studies are in progress.

West Nile outbreak in horses in southern France, 2000: the return after 35 years.

On September 6, 2000, two cases of equine encephalitis caused by West Nile (WN) virus were reported in southern France (Hérault Province), near Camargue National Park, where a WN outbreak occurred in 1962. Through November 30, 76 cases were laboratory confirmed among 131 equines with neurologic disorders. The last confirmed case was on November 3, 2000. All but three cases were located in a region nicknamed "la petite Camargue," which has several large marshes, numerous colonies of migratory and resident birds, and large mosquito populations. No human case has been confirmed among clinically suspected patients, nor have abnormal deaths of birds been reported. A serosurvey has been undertaken in horses in the infected area, and other studies are in progress.

West Nile Virus Surveillance in Connecticut in 2000: An Intense Epizootic without High Risk for Severe Human Disease

In 1999, Connecticut was one of three states in which West Nile (WN) virus actively circulated prior to its recognition. In 2000, prospective surveillance was established, including monitoring bird deaths, testing dead crows, trapping and testing mosquitoes, testing horses and hospitalized humans with neurologic illness, and conducting a human seroprevalence survey. WN virus was first detected in a dead crow found on July 5 in Fairfield County. Ultimately, 1,095 dead crows, 14 mosquito pools, 7 horses, and one mildly symptomatic person were documented with WN virus infection. None of 86 hospitalized persons with neurologic illness (meningitis, encephalitis, Guillain-Barré-like syndrome) and no person in the seroprevalence survey were infected. Spraying in response to positive surveillance findings was minimal. An intense epizootic of WN virus can occur without having an outbreak of severe human disease in the absence of emergency adult mosquito management.

DEVELOPMENT OF POROUS CLAY-BASED COMPOSITES FOR THE SORPTION OF LEAD FROM WATER

Lead contamination of water is a major health hazard, as illustrated by the fact that exposure to this metal has been associated with death and disease in humans, birds, and animals. The present research was aimed at the development of a porous, solid-phase sorbent that can be used in the remediation of lead-contaminated water. A suitable sorbent was identified by screening various clays and other materials for their ability to effectively bind lead. The clay was adhered to a solid support using an aqueous solution of carboxymethyl cellulose. The binary composite was then tested for its ability to bind lead from solution, while providing void volume, increased surface area, and considerably enhanced hydraulic conductivity. The results suggested that a combination of sodium montmorillonite clay and carbon exhibited enhanced sorption of lead compared to carbon alone, and also supported the potential application of various combinations of sorbent materials. This value-added combination of clay, solid support, and adhesive will allow for the construction of column filtration systems that are multifunctional and capable of purifying large volumes of contaminated water.

Behavioural responses of red deer to fences of five different designs

Capercaillie, a large species of grouse, are sometimes killed when they fly into high-tensile deer fences. A fence design which is lower or has a less rigid top section than conventional designs would reduce bird deaths, but such fences would still have to be deer-proof. The short-term behavioural responses of farmed red deer ( Cervus elaphus) to fences of five designs, including four that were designed to be less damaging to capercaillie, were measured. Five deer were located on one side of a fence with a larger group (20 animals), from which they had been recently separated, on the other. The efficacy of fences in preventing deer from the small group from rejoining the larger group was also recorded. In addition to a conventional deer fence (C) the four new designs were, an inverted “L” shape (L), a fence with offset electric wire (E), a double fence (D) and a fence with four webbing tapes above (W). Four replicate groups of deer were each tested for 3 days with each fence design. Deer paced the test fence line relatively frequently (a proportion of 0.09 scan observations overall) but significantly less when deer were separated by fences E or C compared to L, W or D (overall difference between fence types, P<0.001). Deer separated by fence E spent significantly more time pacing perimeter fences than deer separated by fences of other types (overall difference between fence types, P<0.01) but deer separated by fence C maintained a low level of fence pacing overall. Analysis of behaviour patterns across the first day and the 3 days of exposure suggested that the novelty of the test fences, rather than the designs per se, influenced the behaviour of the deer. Over the course of the study, no deer crossed either C or L. Three deer crossed E and two deer crossed both W and D. On this basis, field testing, particularly of fence L, would be a useful next step.

Second extinction of capercaillie ( Tetrao urogallus) in Scotland?

The capercaillie ( Tetrao urogallus L.), a large forest gamebird reintroduced into Scotland in the 1830s, has been declining since the 1970s. This has been attributed to a reduced reproductive rate associated with climate change, and deaths of full-grown birds flying into forest fences. Here, three independent estimates are combined to show that in the 1990s the mean annual rate of decline for adult hens was 18% (S.E. 5%). Without fence deaths, it is calculated that the hen population could have increased at an annual rate of 6% (S.E. 10%). If recent trends persist, the bird will soon be extinct again in Scotland, but without forest fences it would probably survive.

Research into Practice

We have all done it. The specifics are right there in the e-mail, but we reply asking the sender questions about the same information. When the sender responds, saying the specifics are contained in the first e-mail, we wonder how we could have missed them. Clearly, we had not read for the details. But why? Is it because we are not (Prensky, 2005) and, thus, have reading habits that do not translate well to an electronic environment? Do digital natives also make the same mistakes when they read online? Because we have been perplexed by being at both ends of these e-mails, we decided to investigate how well people read for detail when reading online and in print. We assessed the reading skills of a group of 100 eighth grade students and divided the students into four groups of 25. The first group read a science article online, the second group read the same science article in print, the third group read a social studies primary source document online, and the fourth group read the same primary social studies source document in print. When they finished reading, the students responded to questions to assess their level of comprehension and attention to detail. The students who read online and the students who read in print performed similarly well on questions related to main ideas and general themes. The content area did not seem to matter. There were no statistical differences among the groups, and it seemed that online reading was as effective as print reading in ensuring students understood the gist of the information. Where the differences really stood out was in the reading for details. The students who read online performed significantly poorer than the students who read from the printed version on questions related to specific information in the texts. Why was this? We had not asked questions about minutiae, but we did ask students about specific details that were important in such tasks as predicting, inferring, and visualizing. For example, in an article about bird deaths from wind turbines, students who read online and print formats answered the main idea question with the same rate of success. Both groups understood that the article focused on ways to reduce bird deaths so additional electricity-generating wind turbines could be installed. However, the students who read the print version answered the detail questions at statistically significantly better rates. Here are some of the detail questions: * What was the difference between painting one blade versus all of the blades? * True or False: An image on the retina is small when the object is far away. * How many times more likely were the birds to see two blank blades and one solid black blade compared with three blank blades? The results of this investigation prompted us to ask several follow-up questions. We wanted to know why online readers were doing well comprehending the main idea, but not the supporting details. We wondered if they had not as focused when reading an online text or if they had not stayed as long on the original site because of hot buttons that might have altered their original focus after they had grasped the main idea. With so many questions, we knew we needed to continue to study each of the areas separately to understand their combined role in reading comprehension. In the sections that follow, we look closely at three aspects of reading online texts: understanding the main idea, the three-dimensional nature of online reading, and deep reading of online texts. We close with recommendations for encouraging and supporting deep reading in an online environment. The main idea By the middle grades, students have had a lot of experience identifying the main idea (e.g., Laverick, 2002; Seitz, 1997). They learn the sentence structures that suggest important information, where the main idea is typically located within a paragraph or essay, and the way the author structures examples aligned with the main idea (Wang, 2009). …

The Kiowas and the Legend of Kicking Bird

Until now, the mysterious death of Kicking Bird, one of the great leaders of the Kiowas, has overshadowed other significant events of his life. Stan Hoig fills this void in scholarship by providing a more comprehensive account of this important tribal leader and the problems the Kiowas faced during his lifetime. Originally a tribe of the northern mountain regions, the Kiowas migrated to the prairies of Colorado, Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma during the late eighteenth century to take up a buffalo-hunting existence. Like other Plains tribes, the Kiowas were caught squarely in the thrust of Anglo-American military power, forcing the critical decision between continued resistance or acculturation. Kiowas also faced starvation as professional white hunters killed off the vital buffalo herds, which, by government design, were supposed to supplement the meagre, and often tardy, rations promised to the Kiowas by treaty.

Respiratory Medicine of Cage and Aviary Birds

Respiratory diseases are a relatively common cause of illness and death in cage birds. A diagnostic algorithm is provided based on history, physical examination, and ancillary diagnostic findings that assist clinicians in determining the cause of a bird's respiratory disease. Also included are detailed descriptions of the common respiratory diseases of cage birds and their treatment.

Origin of the West Nile virus responsible for an outbreak of encephalitis in the northeastern United States.

In late summer 1999, an outbreak of human encephalitis occurred in the northeastern United States that was concurrent with extensive mortality in crows (Corvus species) as well as the deaths of several exotic birds at a zoological park in the same area. Complete genome sequencing of a flavivirus isolated from the brain of a dead Chilean flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis), together with partial sequence analysis of envelope glycoprotein (E-glycoprotein) genes amplified from several other species including mosquitoes and two fatal human cases, revealed that West Nile (WN) virus circulated in natural transmission cycles and was responsible for the human disease. Antigenic mapping with E-glycoprotein-specific monoclonal antibodies and E-glycoprotein phylogenetic analysis confirmed these viruses as WN. This North American WN virus was most closely related to a WN virus isolated from a dead goose in Israel in 1998.

Energy utilisation of carbohydrate, fat and protein sources in newly hatched broiler chicks

1. TME, TME n and metabolisability (TME/gross energy) of energy-yielding foodstuffs were determined in 1, 3 and 10 d old broiler chicks, using the assay method developed by Murakami et al. (1994), in order to characterise energy utilisation during the 10 d after hatching. 2. TME, TME n and metabolisability of dextrin and starch were low in chicks aged 1 d, and increased with age up to 10 d. Energy values of glucose and maltose at days 1 and 3 could not be determined because of the sudden death of birds soon after the feeding. TME n and metabolisability of cereal sources were lower in d-old chicks than in those aged 3 and 10 d. At all ages, maize was better utilised than wheat and sorghum. 3. In the fat sources (coconut oil, beef tallow and safflower oil) no age dependency was observed in TME, TME n and metabolisability . 4. Bioavailability of soyabean meal and fish meal was lower at 1 d than at 3 d and 10 d. Energy utilisation from casein was the highest among the protein sources tested and it was not age dependent. 5. It is concluded that energy utilisation of carbohydrate and protein sources during 10 d post-hatch tended to increase with age. Among the energy yielding foodstuffs fat sources seem to be better utilised, with no age dependency.

ASPERGILLOSIS AND OTHER CAUSES OF MORTALITY IN THE STITCHBIRD IN NEW ZEALAND

Necropsy findings from natural deaths in free living and captive stitchbirds (Notiomystis cincta) were examined over a 3 yr period (November 1991-94) to establish whether disease was an important factor in translocation failures and captive breeding programs undertaken by the New Zealand Department of Conservation. Fresh and fixed material from seven free-living birds and 11 captive birds were examined and were compared with those of a retrospective study of archival material from captive and wild birds collected over a 13 yr period (1979-91). The causes of death in both the present and retrospective study showed a similar pattern with aspergillosis and aspiration pneumonia being the most significant cause of mortality in captive birds. Aspergillosis was diagnosed as the cause of death in 11 of 31 stitchbirds from Mt Bruce; eight of these deaths occurred in the winter months (June-August). The other causes of death in captive birds included trauma, coccidiosis, and sporadic bacterial infections. Hemosiderosis and airsacculitis were common histological findings in most of the wild and captive stitchbirds examined.

Food Chain Organisms in Hypersaline, Industrial Evaporation Ponds

Evaporation ponds are becoming widely used by industry and agriculture for the disposal of brines as a result of increasingly strict regulations pertaining to off-site disposal methods. Migratory waterfowl and other wildlife can become reliant on such ponds, which can present biological hazards depending on the chemicals they receive. This study examined the algae, invertebrates, and chemistry of two large, hypersaline, industrial wastewater ponds near Phoenix, Arizona, at which waterfowl die-offs (primarily eared grebes, Podiceps nigricollis) were reported. The objectives were to determine what attracted birds to the ponds and whether the ponds were directly responsible for bird deaths. High levels of total salts and nitrate were detected in both ponds, but selenium (16 to 41 μg/L) was the only potentially toxic element that reached levels of concern in the water column. Dominant algae were diatoms, Chaetoceros sp. and Nitzschia frustrulum (Kurtz.) Grun. (up to 6.5 × 105 cells/mL), and cyanobacteria. Synechococcus Nageli 1849 (up to 8.8 × 106 cells/mL). These are normal components of hypersaline ponds and natural salt lakes. However, Chaetoceros levels were negatively correlated with salinity levels in the ponds and a species turnover is expected as ponds age. Primary aquatic fauna were Artemia franciscana (brine shrimp), a filter feeder that consumes algae, and Trichocorixa sp. (waterboatman), a carnivorous insect that presumably feeds on brine shrimp. Brine shrimp were the primary attractant of birds; they were harvested by numerous resident and migratory waterfowl. Selenium levels in brine shrimp (2 to 10 mg/kg) were above recommended levels for food chain organisms in aquatic ecosystems but were well below levels that can cause acute toxicity. Brine shrimp fed to zebra danios fish (Brachydanio refio) in a bioassay were nontoxic. As at other locations where grebe mortality events have been reported in recent years, the cause of death of birds visiting these evaporation ponds is unknown. Therefore, it is concluded that these ponds may not be directly toxic to visiting wildlife, but that evaporation ponds such as these are attractants for wildlife and may pose a long-term hazard through the accumulation of selenium in the food chain. Zero-discharge evaporation ponds may be useful as an interim solution to the brine disposal problem but do not represent a safe, permanent solution.

Possible cause of unnatural mass death of wild birds in a pond in Nishinomiya, Japan: sudden appearance of toxic cyanobacteria.

During the summer of 1995, about 20 spot-billed ducks died unnaturally in a pond (Shin-ike) in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. The suspected cause was the sudden appearance of toxic freshwater bloom of cyanobacteria. However, no birds died in a nearby pond (Oo-ike) in which the cyanobacteria was also present. Morphological observation of these cyanobacteria by microscope revealed that they were almost unialgal and were both Microcystis aeruginosa. The lyophilized algal cell powder from Shin-ike contained large amounts of microcystins which showed acute toxicity for mouse, while that from Oo-ike had only a very small amount of microcystin-RR which did not show acute toxicity. Autopsy of one of the birds revealed that the liver was necrotic and severely jaundiced with a dark green color, suggesting the toxicity of the microcystins. These results point to the cause of the unnatural death of spot-billed ducks in Shin-ike as being the sudden appearance of toxic Microcystis aeruginosa. This was due to eutrophication of the pond, following the influx of untreated sewage related to damage from the Great Hanshinn Earthquake of January 1995. This is the first experimental report of toxic cyanobacteria being implicated in the mass death of wild birds in Japan.

Causes of death of wild birds of the family Fringillidae in Britain

The provision of supplementary food for wild birds in gardens during the winter months is common in the UK, but it is possible that it may precipitate infectious diseases in...

First Report on the Identification of Microcystin in a Water Bloom Collected in Belgium

A toxic cyanobacterial bloom dominated by Microcystis aeruginosa occurred in 1995 in three adjacent ponds near Liège (Belgium) where at the same time conspicuous bird deaths were observed. The toxicity assay using primary rat hepatocytes indicated a high hepatoxicity. A 4 h incubation yielded a LD50 of 0.23 mg bloom material (dry weight)/ml cell culture medium. Toxicity was due to hepatotoxins of the microcystin class, microcystin-LR and-RR being the major microcystins present as determined by RP-HPLC absorption spectra, 1H NMR, and ESMS spectra. Additionally, the bloom sample contained small amounts of microcystin-YR. The microcystin content of the dry bloom biomass was 870 micrograms/g (on the basis of the hepatotoxicity assay) and 556 micrograms/g (on the basis of the RP-HPLC peak area). A higher yield of microcystins was obtained by acetic acid extraction instead of methanol extraction, whereas different extraction temperatures (20 degrees C, 40 degrees C) had no effect on the yield.

HOLLOW BIRDS BREEDING AND ROOSTING IN NESTBOXES IN MIXED FORESTS OF LITHUANIA

Abstract Hollow birds of 12 species were found breeding in nestboxes for tits and starlings in mixed forests of Lithuania. They were Ficedula hypoleuca, Parus major, Parus caeruleus, Parus cristatus, Parus ater, Parus montanus, Erithacus rubecula, Sitta europea, Sturnus vulgaris, Troglodytes troglodytes, Jynx torquila, Phoenicurus phoenicurus. The most abundant species were F. hypoleuca and P. major which made 50–60% and 30–40% respectively of all the birds breeding in nestboxes. Long-term investigations carried out in two sites (in 1984–1990 in Šakiai district and in 1984–1993 in Molėtai district) revealed, that the abundance of these species in separate years was rather stable, only a small fluctuation in number F. hypoleuca was revealed. An evident increase in number of F. hypoleuca in both sites was registered in 1990. The peaks of increase in number of these two species were observed during the first year after establishing of the nestboxes. Nestboxes established in a mixed spruce-birch forest in Šakiai district were used for roosting by five species of birds in post-breeding period: P. major, P. caeruleus, S. europea, Dendrocopos major and D. minor, among which P. major made 80%. The percentage of nestboxes occupied by roosting birds rose from 2.5% in August and September to 20.4% in November and then it was gradually decreasing. An insignificant increase was observed in March. These seasonal fluctuations of abundance are related not only to fall of temperature in autumn and deaths of birds in winter time, but also to autumnal migration of P. major from woods to the territories inhabited by people and their migration back to the forest in spring.

Confirmation of anatoxin-a(s), in the cyanobacterium Anabaena lemmermannii, as the cause of bird kills in Danish Lakes

Cyanobacterial blooms were implicated in bird kills at lakes in Denmark in July 1993 and June–July 1994. These blooms were dominated by Anabaena lemmermannii and were shown to contain a neurotoxin with anticholinesterase activity. In this study, the toxin was isolated by mouse lethality guided column chromatographies from the field sample collected at Lake Knud sø in 1993. Various spectroscopic data indicated that the toxin was anatoxin-a(s), an irreversible anticholinesterase, first reported in Anabaena flos-aquae. Chemical detection of the same toxin in cultured A. lemmermannii also confirmed this species as the cause of the deaths of the wild birds.

Neurotrophins Suppress Apoptosis Induced by Deafferentation of an Avian Motor-Cortical Region

Studies of the developing nervous system led to the general view that growth factors promote neuronal survival in a "retrograde" manner. For example, release of NGF from postsynaptic peripheral targets followed by uptake and retrograde transport by presynaptic neurons provided a widely accepted conceptual framework for the action of neurotrophins. In contrast, although presynaptic or "anterograde" influences on the survival of developing neurons have been recognized for some time, the mechanisms by which afferent input regulates the survival of postsynaptic cells have received considerably less attention. In the forebrain network for learned vocal behavior in zebra finches, lesions of a cortical region for song control, the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior neostriatum (lMAN), remove presynaptic input to a motor-cortical song region, the robust nucleus of the archistriatum (RA), and cause massive RA neuron death in young birds that are entering the sensitive period for song learning. Here we report that lesions of lMAN followed by infusions of neurotrophins directly into RA completely suppress neuronal apoptosis in RA. Moreover, we show that lMAN neurons are able to transport neurotrophins in the anterograde direction to RA, that neurotrophin-like immunoreactivity is present in cells in lMAN and RA, and that neurotrophin receptor-like immunoreactivity is present in RA. Expression of neurotrophins in lMAN and RA suggests that lMAN presynaptic input could regulate RA neuron survival by synthesizing, transporting, and releasing neurotrophins anterogradely or by regulating the auto/paracrine release of neurotrophins within RA, or perhaps by both. These data provide the first in vivo demonstration that neurotrophins can prevent the death of deafferented cortical neurons, and they raise the possibility that nonretrograde signaling by neurotrophins may be a common means of promoting neuronal survival in the vertebrate telencephalon. Anterograde and auto/paracrine neurotrophin signaling, along with the more established view that neurotrophins regulate neuron survival via retrograde mechanisms, suggests multidirectional neurotrophin signaling in the vertebrate telencephalon.

Sea bird mortality at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico: Evidence that toxic diatom blooms are spreading

Domoic acid was found to be responsible for an isolated event involving the massive death of brown pelicans ( Pelecanus occidentalis) in January 1996, at the tip of the Baja California peninsula. The death of these sea birds was the result of feeding on mackerel ( Scomber japonicus) contaminated by domoic acid-producing diatoms ( Pseudonitzschia sp.). The number of dead birds (150 animals) found during a period of 5 days caused alarm and called for a govermental task force that would help to implement emergency measurements to protect other species of bird. Also, local canneries were inspected to verify the safety of their recent production and prevent the toxin entering the human market. Fortunately, the timing, response and coordination of this task force enabled identification of the origin and nature of the toxin that provoked such a phenomenon. Future monitoring is recommended to avoid a larger impact of domoic acid spreading and the occurrence of similar toxic events.