Bird Deaths Shut Down Downtown Austin

Heart of Downtown Austin Closed for Testing After Dozens of Birds Found Dead Overnight

By JIM VERTUNO

AUSTIN, Texas Jan 9, 2007 (AP)— Texas health officials are trying to determine what killed dozens of birds whose remains prompted a temporary shutdown of 10 blocks of downtown Austin.

Police closed a section of downtown for several hours Monday after 63 birds were found dead in the street, but officials said preliminary tests found no threat to people.

Workers in yellow hazardous-materials suits tested for contaminants in a cordoned-off area near the state Capitol and the governor's mansion before authorities finally gave the all-clear in the afternoon.

Dr. Adolfo Valadez, medical director for the Austin and Travis County Health and Human Services Division, said the dead grackles, sparrows and pigeons were to be tested for signs of poison or viral infections. Officials did not believe bird flu was involved.

Bird deaths being investigated


By Ben Ready
The Daily Times-Call

LONGMONT — About 40 dead birds littered a short stretch of U.S. Highway 287 south of the city Tuesday.

Boulder County health officials and the Colorado Division of Wildlife were still coordinating efforts late afternoon to investigate the site, just south Mooring Road.

From an initial description, division veterinarian Laurie Baeten said the birds were likely starlings killed by a passing truck. Considering whipping winds in parts of Boulder County on Monday and the fact that starlings tend to flock at night and in large colonies, Baeten suspects a gust might have thrown the colony into the path of a tall vehicle such as a semi truck.

Monday, 18 December 2006, 20:30 GMT
France testing dead birds for flu

French authorities say they cannot rule out bird flu after 4,000 chickens died on a French farm on Saturday.

Officials have carried out tests on the dead birds found in Sarrey in the northeast Haute-Marne region, but the results are not expected until Tuesday

The farmer says his flock of 7,000 chickens appeared healthy on Saturday morning, but by evening 4,000 had died.

CALIFORNIA
Struggling seabirds
Dead murres, auklets washing ashore with little in their stomachs

Glen Martin, Chronicle Environment Writer

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

West Coast seabirds are dying, apparently from a lack of food -- and some researchers think the phenomenon may be linked to global climate change.

This is the third year that scientists have found unusually large numbers of marine birds -- mainly common murres, but also rhinoceros auklets and tufted puffins -- washed up on beaches in California, Oregon and Washington. In 2005, the first year of the phenomenon, large numbers of Cassin's auklets also died.

Hannah Nevins, the coordinator for Moss Landing Marine Laboratories beach survey program, said 253 dead murres were recovered on 11 Monterey Bay beaches during the first week of March. During the past nine years, an average of nine dead birds were collected on the same beaches during the same week, she said.

Rare bird evades bird spotters by quickly dying
Tuesday, April 3, 2007

A sighting of a rare red-flanked bluetail sent birdwatchers rushing to catch a glimpse of the little-seen bird.

Unfortunately, it dropped dead before most of them had a chance to unsheath their binoculars.

Twitchers from across the country were alerted by phone to the fact that the bird had been spotted in Easington, East Yorkshire.

Posted: Apr 06, 2007 - 08:34:57 PDT

Unusual seabird mortality recorded on the Oregon coast
By Jason Evans Of the News-Times

January through March 2007, more beached dead seabirds than usual have been counted in Lincoln County and elsewhere on the Pacific Coast.

Dead birds found in unusually high numbers include rhinoceros auklet, horned puffin, tufted puffin and marbled murrelet, among others. It is unclear what is causing the prevalence of dead birds, and whether the event is ongoing. "Something is definitely different in the ocean this year for those species," said Roy Lowe, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), "These birds are often the bellwether of what is going on underwater. If you are not out there collecting data on plankton or fish, dead birds might be the first thing you see. Especially when you see birds dying on such a length of coastline, it tells you something is going on."