Birds

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 »