Colorado's majestic birds of prey hit by avian influenza
There aren't a lot of birds at the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program of late, because many of the sick birds they are getting calls on, just can't be helped. The calls are there. People reporting birds down in the snow, making circles, tilting their heads, or just staring up at the sky, all potential symptoms of avian influenza.
"Right now we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg," said Michael Tincher, rehabilitation and research coordinator for the Raptor Program.
It's not that they don't want to help, but that they cannot. A bird seriously ill with the flu has to be euthanized, if for nothing else to contain the further spread of the virus.
The program is trying to limit the spread of the deadly flu that has hit hard at poultry and egg farms. It is the country's deadliest outbreak. The US Department of Agriculture says more than 57 million birds were affected by the avian flu in 2022. In the wild, it's hard to tell. But the reports and videos and photographs organizations like the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program are getting tell the story. It is hitting hard among the raptor population.
"Raptors are opportunistic scavengers," says Tincher. "Especially when we get snow cover. It makes it more difficult to hunt mice and voles and rabbits."
Many will feast on the carcasses of dead birds like geese. The virus is spread through contact with feces or mucosal material. The progress of the illness is rapid. Red tail hawks have had good numbers in Colorado in the recent past, but now it is not clear what the future will bring. Bald eagles are coming south in the winter months and facing the risks as well.
"They come down here and they spend the winter so they follow the food supply. That's geese."
The raptor program has one hawk in isolation. As of Monday, its symptoms, eye problems, were indicative of the potential for infection. But the results were not back yet. Another hawk was already in the program's intensive care programs after worsening. It brings up the question of what to do for the organization.
"Even if it tests positive and we have the ability to care for it, we might attempt it, said Tincher. One bird that is in isolation at the facility, another started there and is now in critical care. Both are awaiting testing.
Additional trouble could come in the Spring when migrating birds return to the state. That is nesting season. It's unclear how the virus will impact species then.
"How is it going to impact those young birds in the nest? They have no immune system," said Tincher.
For some endangered species in the country, he observed, there remains the potential that this round of avian influenza could be an extinction-level event.
