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Avian flu found among more wild birds
Oklahoma Mesonet reported 0.12 inches of precipitation over the past seven-day period.
Payne County rare birds for the same time frame include Eastern Towhee at Lake Carl Blackwell Dam and continuing Gadwall x Mallard hybrid at Sanborn Lake.
Payne County has no reports of migrants again this month.
The nationwide vagrant/ rare birds include continuing Northern Lapwing of Massachusetts, Florida’s Yellow- headed Caracara, Texas’ Mottled Owl, Brown Jay, and Cattle Tyrant, and Alaska’s Eurasian Sparrowhawk still remains on Adak.
New York also located a Northern Lapwing. Florida counted Sage Thrasher, Arkansas added Kelp Gull, as Arkansas noted Short-billed Gull.
Minnesota tagged Mottled Duck, while South Dakota checked Harlequin Duck.
Oregon found a couple of Baikal Teal.
A number of new cases of avian flu in wild birds and the first US case of a new strain are beginning to prove that this illness could be entering another phase.
This means that egg shortages could be on the horizon once again, prices have already shot up additionally and seem to be creating more issues for government disease outlooks.
Between the end of last year and mid-January, we are slightly under a confirmed 90 cases per the USDA across 24 states.
States on the East Coast have culled thousands of wild geese and commercial poultry flocks after detected cases of the flu.
Wild birds can be infected and show no symptoms, permitting the virus to move to new areas and possibly expose more domestic poultry.
Boomer Lake shouted out Canada and Cackling Geese, Mallard, Canvasback, Ruddy Duck, Killdeer, Ring-billed and American Herring Gulls, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Bald Eagle, Belted Kingfisher, Downy, Red-bellied, and Hairy Woodpeckers, yellow-shafted Northern Flicker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Carolina Wren, European Starling, Northern Mockingbird, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Cedar Waxwing, House Sparrow, slate-colored Darkeyed Junco, Harris’s and Song Sparrows, Red-winged Blackbird, Pine and myrtle Yellow-rumped Warblers, Northern Cardinal, Bufflehead, Hooded and Red-breasted Merganser, Eurasian Collared- Dove, Mourning Dove, Black and Turkey Vultures, Red-shouldered and Redtailed Hawk, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, American Crow, Carolina Chickadee, American Robin, House Sparrow, Northern Harrier, Blue Jay, Golden- crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, House Finch, House Finch and American Goldfinch.
Lake Carl Blackwell ticked Common Goldeneye, Bonaparte’s Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Iceland Gull (Thayer’s), American Pipit, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Greenwinged Teal, American Coot, Pied-billed Grebe, Pileated Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Winter Wren, Fox, Swamp, and White-throated Sparrow, Spotted Towhee, Eastern Phoebe, Brown Creeper and Oregon Junco.
Sanborn Lake shared Gadwall x Mallard hybrid, Red-headed Woodpecker, Great Horned Owl, Ringnecked Duck and Smith’s Longspur.
Oklahoma State University Cross Country Course penciled in Rock Pigeon (feral), Sharpshinned Hawk, American Kestrel, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Eastern Bluebird, Western and Eastern Meadowlarks, and Brewer’s Blackbird.
Botanic Garden at Oklahoma State University penned Cooper’s Hawk.
Teal Ridge counted Loggerhead Shrike and Greater Roadrunner.
Keep your eyes on the ground and your head in the clouds.
Happy birding! Deb Hirt is a wild bird rehabilitator and photographer living in Stillwater.
A Kelp Gull.
MAXYMAX13, CC BY-SA 4.0
DEB HIRT
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