Avian flu wreaking havoc on bald eagles, other wild birds
OMAHA, Neb. — Bird flu is killing an alarming number of bald eagles and other wild birds, with many sick birds arriving at rehabilitation centers unsteady on their talons and unable to fly.
“It’s quite a sight to see an eagle with a 6-foot wingspan having uncontrollable seizures because of highly pathogenic avian influenza,” said Victoria Hall, executive director of the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center. “At that point, they’re so far into the disease there’s no treatment options left.”
The latest outbreak of the highly contagious virus has led to the culling of about 37 million chickens and turkeys in U.S. farms since February, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed 956 cases of bird flu in wild birds, including at least 54 bald eagles. But the actual number is likely significantly higher because not every wild bird that dies is tested, and the federal tally doesn’t include cases recorded by wildlife rehabilitation centers.
The latest reported toll is nearly 10 times higher than the 99 confirmed cases in wild birds during the last bird flu outbreak in 2015. This time, the virus has been detected in birds in 34 states, indicating it is far more widespread than seven years ago.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center also collects data from wildlife officials on suspected and confirmed bird flu deaths. It lists 8,536 recent wild bird deaths from avian influenza.
“This is definitely an unprecedented event,” said researcher Rebecca Poulson, who has been studying avian influenza for 15 years at the University of Georgia’s Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study. “The number of birds and species and states already in which it has been detected is pretty alarming.”
Water fowl including ducks and geese, which typically carry the virus, and the raptors and scavengers that feed on them are the most commonly sickened birds, but cases have been confirmed in more than three dozen species. Ducks and geese are usually able to live with the virus without getting sick, but the latest variant is proving more contagious and more deadly.
“We are seeing a tremendous impact from this virus,” said Hall, whose Raptor Center in St. Paul, Minn., treats roughly 1,000 birds a year. “We are seeing birds coming in suffering from this virus every single day.”
Nearly 61 percent of the 188 birds the rehabilitation center has tested since late March have had bird flu and all but one of those died. Hall said the center had to set up an area where workers wearing protective gear test sick and injured birds for avian influenza and quarantine them before bringing them into the center, to avoid infecting other birds.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service veterinarian Samantha Gibbs and Poulson said they fear the virus could survive the summer, when it usually dies off, leading to fall infections when migratory birds return south. That happened in Europe, where the virus is circulating first.
Bald eagles — the U.S. national symbol since the 1700s — are among America’s most celebrated conservation success stories. With an estimated 300,000 bald eagles in the country today — a population that quadrupled between 2009 and 2021 — the bird was removed from the U.S. Endangered Species List in 2007. Given that, experts believe the species should weather the impact of this virus.