Birds

Highlights Role of Partnerships in Conservation

March 19, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today released the first ever comprehensive report on bird populations in the United States, showing that nearly a third of the nation’s 800 bird species are endangered, threatened or in significant decline due to habitat loss, invasive species, and other threats.

At the same time, the report highlights examples, including many species of waterfowl, where habitat restoration and conservation have reversed previous declines, offering hope that it is not too late to take action to save declining populations.    » read more »

June 17, 2008 -- BURLINGTON - Each year in Vermont, mosquitoes are mapped, monitored, targeted and trapped and – when spotted – swatted, smacked and squished.

The Vermont Department of Health’s main interest in the pests is whether or not the mosquitoes are infected with West Nile virus, an infection that may cause illness.

Mosquito: Photo by OliBac (CC)

Most mosquitoes are not infected with West Nile virus, which is transmitted from infected birds to certain types of mosquitoes that routinely feed on robins, jays, crows, ravens and raptors.    » read more »

Working with America to Prevent a Silent Spring

February 4, 2008, WASHINGTON, D.C. – Pledging to work with wildlife conservation agencies and bird conservation groups across the nation, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today unveiled a Presidential initiative to halt and reverse the dramatic decline in U.S. wild bird populations.    » read more »

Two new counties reporting West Nile virus in birds

September 26, 2007 -- SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois Department of Public Health is reporting today 14 additional human cases of West Nile virus including a Gallatin County woman in her 80’s who died on September 12. The woman is reported to have become ill in early September. This newly reported case in addition to the 13 cases listed below brings the total this year to 48. Additional cases include:

• McHenry County man in his 30’s became ill in mid-September    » read more »

20 September 2007 -- Scientists say they have evidence that a ferocious dinosaur made famous by the movie Jurassic Park definitely had feathers. Experts say the dinosaur, called Velociraptor, had a wing structure just like modern birds.

A new study by American researcher Alan Turner and his colleagues provides the first conclusive evidence that Velociraptor, a sprinting, vicious dinosaur that lived some 80 million years ago, had feathers.

The Velociraptor in the current study is estimated to have been one meter tall, 1.5 meters long and weighed just over 13 kilograms.    » read more »

September 5, 2007 -- Michigan Department of Natural Resources officials today released annual survey information indicating the state's population of the endangered Kirtland's warbler continues to increase.

Biologists, researchers and volunteers in Michigan observed 1,697 singing males during the official 2007 survey period, up from 1,478 males observed in 2006. The 2007 population represents the largest number of singing males recorded since monitoring began in 1951. The lowest numbers were recorded in 1974 and 1987, when only 167 singing males were found.    » read more »

03 September 2007 -- Researchers say studies do not confirm whether wild birds are carriers of the H5N1 bird flu virus. Experts are gathering in Bangkok this week to figure out better ways to track how the disease is spreading.

Experts meeting in say they have been dealing with data that might be unreliable because there is no uniform system of checking H5N1 infection among wild birds. The Food and Agriculture Organization brought together more than 70 experts from 12 countries.    » read more »

Twin Cities-based bird rescue organization to facilitate groundbreaking in-store adoption program

Phoenix, August 23, 2007 — Rainbow, a Bronze-wing Pionus and many of his feathered, homeless friends at Minnesota's largest shelter for homeless birds have a lot more to sing about with the opening of PetSmart's first in-store adoption-only center for companion birds.    » read more »

New plan outlines collaborative approach, coordinated action among nations

22 August 2007 -- Washington -- As the human toll from avian influenza rises to 321 cases, with 194 deaths worldwide, leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico have released a plan that outlines how the three countries will work together if the highly pathogenic virus makes its way to North America.    » read more »

18 August 2007 -- The West African country of Togo recently announced more bird flu infections outside its capital, making it the seventh West African country to report finding the deadly H5N1 virus in its poultry. Bird flu experts say sub-Saharan Africa still has a long way to go in its battle against the virus, and any other animal diseases that may develop.

Togo's government officials say they have been working with farmers since early last year to ask them to report any signs of the virus.    » read more »

16 August 2007 -- Indonesia's Health Ministry says a 17-year-old woman has died of bird flu.

Authorities say the woman died Tuesday in Tangerang, west of Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. She is the 83rd Indonesian to have died of the virus.

Earlier this week, a 29-year-old woman living on the island of Bali died of the disease, becoming the resort island's first known human fatality from the often-deadly H5N1 strain of the virus.    » read more »

August 13, 2007 -- A gene mutation that appears to be responsible for changing relatively mild forms of the West Nile virus into a highly virulent and deadly disease in American crows has been identified by a team of scientists led by a researcher at the University of California, Davis.

Because it is highly susceptible to West Nile virus, the American crow has served as the major sentinel species, playing an important role in alerting scientists and health professionals to the movement of the disease across North America.    » read more »

03 July 2007 -- You may think you already know all there is to know about penguins. After all, according to Hollywood, they march, they dance, and they even surf, right? OK, maybe not. But there actually is a lot more we can learn about these popular birds, as some ancient Peruvian fossils have shown us.    » read more »

26 June 2007 -- German authorities say they have found bird flu in wild swans in a second German state.

Officials Tuesday confirm that the H5N1 strain killed three swans near the city of Leipzig in eastern Germany.

The virus was found in six swans last week in a pond in Nuremberg, about 200 kilometers to the south. These are Germany's first bird flu cases in more than a year.

Experts are investigating whether the cases are tied to recent bird flu outbreaks in Hungary and the Czech Republic.    » read more »

13 May 2007 -- The issue of sharing research data on avian influenza is shaping up to be the most controversial and potentially damaging item on this year's agenda of the World Health Assembly. The annual assembly of 193 governments, which opens in Geneva on Monday, will debate ways to tackle a possible bird flu pandemic. Other global health problems will also be under review. Lisa Schlein has more for VOA.    » read more »