Experts asking homeowners to take down birdfeeders
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Birds are dying and the cause is unclear, but experts do know that birdfeeders and bird baths are part of the problem.
A mysterious virus is killing birds along the mid-Atlantic seaboard and has no known cause, but it is spreading.
From New York to Boston and as far south as Atlanta and into Ohio, thousands of songbirds are dying.
So far, most cases involve just four species—common Grackles, Blue Jays, American Robins, and European Starlings—according to a July 2nd statement from the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Centre.
Mass bird deaths aren’t uncommon, especially in species which gather at feeders and move in mass flocks.
In the mid-1990s, bird watchers in the eastern United States noticed that House Finches, a common songbird, were dying in relatively large numbers from an illness characterized by “swollen and encrusted eyes,” states the article . “Researchers ultimately determined the cause was a bacterium, Mycoplasma Gallisepticum, that had likely spread from domestic poultry.”
Although the outbreak seems to be slowing, officials are asking people to take their feeders down and bury any dead birds that may be found in their yard.
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A few years ago the trees in my backyard were full of birds, today they are as rare as rainbows.
We have a lot of birds in our community but people are asked not to put out bird feeders. One reason is that they are drawing rats into the feeders and then into houses.
There are a lot of birds here, but I've never put out bird feeders. They tend to draw in bears.
bury any dead birds that may be found in their yard
No. They should be turned over for study so that maybe a cause of their deaths can be determined.