Over the past five days there have been increasing reports of unusual behavior in a variety of bird species including brant goose, snow goose, white-fronted goose, and Canada goose.
This brant was seen at Mile 16 of the Nome-Council Road exhibiting spinning behavior.
The Yukon is the latest place to be hit with avian flu cases as an outbreak continues to spread across the country. Officials from the department of environment said in a press release Friday that two waterfowl carcasses in southern Yukon tested positive for the H5N1 virus strand. The Yukon government is asking residents to report sightings of sick or dead birds to their TIPP line at 1-800-661-0525.
Most likely foxes become infected from feeding on deceased birds. In the past month, HPAI has been detected in red foxes in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ontario in areas where the virus was also detected in wild birds.
During February and March, six new findings of highly pathogenic bird flu virus (HPAI) were made in sea eagles in the counties of Møre og Romsdal, Trøndelag, Nordland and Troms and Finnmark. Thus far, eight reliable detections have been made in sea eagles in Norway this bird flu season, which is unique in the European context.
An eagle that died in the Sitka National Historical Park this month tested positive for the avian influenza. A second eagle that died in the park was also tested for the virus, and results are pending.
State Veterinarian Dr. Robert Gerlach says the Mat-Su case confirms that migrating birds have brought avian influenza to Alaska.
These cases represent the first detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) H5N1 A/goose/Guangdong/1996 (Gs/GD) lineage in wild mammals in Ontario, Canada and in the Americas. One of the kits was found dead and the other was exhibiting severe neurological signs (including seizures) and died shortly after admission to a wildlife rehabilitation centre.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency say avian influenza has been detected in additional poultry flocks in southern Alberta as well as in Saskatchewan.
The mortalities to date include a snow goose (Hyde County), redhead duck (Carteret County), red-shouldered hawk (Wake County) and bald eagle (Dare County).
A number of sick and / or dying songbirds were reported in McCarthy including pine grosbeaks and red polls. A sickly golden eagle was reported ten days earlier. "It flew up to a tree top but appeared weak and a bit awkward."
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