“Last year we got several reports from tourists and scientists that they saw around six walruses dead here on the west side of Svalbard. Unfortunately, we couldn’t sample them as the dead walruses drifted away by the time we got to the place. But it’s not normal to get so many reported dead walruses in such a small area," said Christian Lydersen, senior scientist at the Norwegian Polar Institute. Now samples (collected by a Station Manager in July 2023) have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Unusual aggressive bald eagle behavior, not linked to nest protection, leads to multiple injuries at Kodiak harbor, possibly due to eagles being fed by people.
A couple of weeks ago I spotted a small gull on the second bridge behind Kotzebue. The bird wouldn't fly and was walking slowly.
Chris Whitty captured stunning photos of a rare white loon in British Columbia, marking an unusual wildlife sighting.
The crow was on the beach hiding near a driftwood stump and was unable to fly and struggled to walk. These are signs associated with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) also commonly referred to as "bird flu". See video.
Sand dunes disappear with more frequent and powerful storms in Western Alaska. These storms have impacted bird nesting grounds and tundra plants.
Observers in Port Heiden, Alaska report significantly reduced sea gull populations and fewer gull eggs for subsistence, coinciding with decreased seal numbers and increased fox populations.
Reindeer herder Risten Inga Eira reports all newborn calves in her district have been killed, highlighting increased predator attacks and the community's frustration with the rising eagle population.
A duck hunter in Fort Smith, N.W.T., found his usual hunting grounds dried up and devoid of wildlife due to recent wildfires and record-low water levels.
This winter large numbers of redpolls have been observed at bird feeders, from Fairbanks to Anchorage. ADFG reports that mass mortality events of redpolls have also been observed. ADFG advises homeowners not to handle dead or sick birds, and to prevent pets from coming in contact with them. Bird illness may be caused by a bacteria that could also affect people and pets.
The expedition revealed that gannets have easy access to plastic, as their nests are mostly made from plastic debris. Hundreds of dead gannets were also observed by the experts, with it being estimated that three factors played a role in their deaths: natural attrition, bird flu, and plastic pollution.
An unusual visitor showed up in King Cove in late November. Shankell Mack was able to get a picture. The great egret is rare sighting anywhere in Alaska.
There have been similar, even larger outbreaks of avian flue in seabird colonies in north Norway. In some cases, the losses were dramatic and major fractions of the colonies were wiped out. In Spitsbergen, avian flu was found for the first time in 2002, but the recent outbreak on Hopen is the largest one so far.
In Dillingham, Alaska, 19 cases of avian flu have been identified in common murres, with the virus still present in wild birds and genetic testing being conducted to determine if it is a new strain or a strain circulating in North America.
Samples taken from a white-tailed eagle found dead on a skerry near Barðaströnd in the Westfjords in mid-September tested positive for a severe bird flu virus of the strain HPAI H4N5. An eider duck that was found dead in Ólafsfjörður, West Iceland recently was infected with the same strain of bird flu virus. The strain has not been detected in Iceland before and is not common.
Reports are coming in about hundreds of dead birds from Hammerfest in the west to Murmansk in the east. A zone with a radius of five kilometers is closed and guards are in place round-the-clock.
Avian influenza has now been detected along the entire coast of Finnmark. In Vadsø, the disease has not yet been detected, but almost 800 dead birds have already been removed. See video.
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