Osprey Cam Web Log 2006

Mom and Dad

Nest Update: Thanks to all those who sent in photos for our latest Gallery update. We saw some wonderful shots of the osprey chicks interacting with each other and the parents.

A couple funny shots to point out: In this photo the three oldest chicks are standing together in a little huddle, which could be a contest to see who's the tallest. And in this shot, we see how the chicks usually look after a meal -- stuffed with fish and passed out on the nest. And we've also seen a few photos showing the fourth chick looking in dad's direction as if to say, "Can I get food from you?"

Although it would be great if the father osprey pitched in and helped feed the youngest, it's not normally in the nature of the father osprey to do that kind of work. I've heard of a few accounts where father ospreys suddenly started helping with the chick-feeding chores (including one nest where the mother died and the father raised the young on his own), but most fathers do not instinctively beak-feed the young, and we've never seen it happen on our cam.

Something interesting to note though: On the current Connecticut Audubon Osprey Cam, viewers have noticed that the male osprey has been beak-feeding the female while she's on the nest. We've heard that some osprey couples exhibit this behavior, although again, we have never seen it at the Blackwater Osprey Cam.

Our male osprey has been a terrific father, so it's hard to hold it against him if he doesn't help out with feeding the chicks. He's been very busy not only fishing for four chicks but also fishing for the mother and himself. In addition, he must preen his feathers so they remain in top condition. And he has to keep an eye out for intruders and sometimes escort them from the area. So dad's juggling a lot of balls right now, and he's been doing a fine job with this very crowded nest. We just hope he can keep up the meal deliveries once the chicks get larger and have much bigger appetites. But by then, the mother osprey will be doing some of the fishing as well.

We also give a "hats off" to the mother osprey. She must not get a lot of rest with four squirming chicks that are always seemingly hungry, and lately she's had to deal with the added hardship of a hot spell. Earlier this week, we had high temps and bright sun. Since the chicks are not able to regulate their own body temperatures for the first couple weeks after birth, the mother had to cool them off by shading them with her body, which she did tirelessly.

We continue to be greatly impressed with the skills and attentiveness of our two osprey parents. If this was our couple from last year -- with the father that would disappear for most of the day, doing who knows what -- we might be down to two chicks by now. But at this point, the mother is managing to get food to the youngest, especially after the bigger siblings have had their fill.

One other cam moment I wanted to point out: We sometimes see the chicks suddenly drop face down into the nest as a group. This is usually because one of the parents has sounded an alarm call. Osprey chicks instinctively know that an alarm call from a parent means they should lie flat and look like they're part of the nest. It's a defense mechanism for times when a threatening predator (or even a human) is too close to the nest. The alarming situation in these photos did not last long.

Questions:

A few cam watchers have sent in questions, which I thought I'd answer here. One cam watcher asked if a mother osprey will pester the father if he is not bringing in enough fish, and the answer is yes. A mother will call and call if she wants him to bring more food or she wants him to come watch the chicks so she can get a break. Some fathers require a lot more pestering than others.

Also this same cam watcher asked about fish deliveries. The father osprey has increased his deliveries since the last two chicks appeared, and he's really dropping off a lot of fish, including a couple quick fish in the early morning before most of our North American cam watchers are online. At night there isn't any feeding.

Another cam watcher asked if the chicks can pull off fish pieces by themselves, and the answer is no. The little chicks' necks and beaks are not strong enough to pull apart tough fish meat. So even if a fish is laying right in front of them, they still need a parent to help them eat it. Eventually they will get strong enough to tear apart fish by themselves, but as those who watched our Eagle Cam remember, it took about six weeks before the chicks could start to do that on their own.

Wallpaper:

In celebration of the remarkable (and for us, record-breaking) four-chick nest that we have this year, I'm posting a couple wallpaper images that have been loaned to us by two very talented photographers. The first photo was taken by photographer Bob Quinn at Blackwater Refuge, and it shows an osprey couple on one of our river platforms. And the second photo was taken by Canadian photographer Eric Cote, and it shows an osprey fishing along a beautifully scenic lake. Much thanks to Bob and Eric for allowing us to post these beautiful osprey moments.

To save a photo as your desktop wallpaper, just follow the instructions below, and enjoy!

For PC: Click on the link for your resolution. When the image finishes loading, right-click on it and choose "Set As Wallpaper" or "Set As Background" from the pop-up menu.

For MAC (OS X): Click on the link for your resolution. When the image finishes loading, drag the image onto your desktop, then open System Preferences and click "Desktop". Drag the image from your desktop to the "Current Desktop Picture" sample screen.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

Chicks #3 and #4

Nest Update: The third and fourth chicks each arrived after 36 days of incubation. At this point the first three chicks look healthy and are growing nicely, but we're not sure what will happen with the fourth chick. The youngest was five days behind the oldest and is a good bit smaller than the other three, so we'll just have to wait and see if it can get enough food to survive. We hear from the Refuge staff that they've only known of one other osprey nest that had four chicks at the Refuge, but the fourth didn't survive. So four healthy chicks is a real long shot.

The good news is that our parents seem very capable and have impressed us with their parenting skills. The father osprey has really picked up his meal deliveries, and the mother has been doing a great job of covering and feeding the young. As our cam watchers might remember, from 2001-2004 we had a very capable couple on the cam platform but they moved to another nest last year and we had a younger couple in 2005. The 2005 father osprey was not a good provider, and his performance created tension in the nest between the oldest and youngest chicks. This year, we weren't sure which couple had returned to the cam platform, but after watching this couple in action, we wouldn't be surprised if this was our old couple from 2001-2004.

I wanted to highlight some great photos we've received over the last few days. First, here is a funny shot showing the first three chicks lined up, possibly in their birth order. And as a contrast, here is a photo showing the chicks lined up in a more democratic row for a feeding session. The trick for the fourth chick will be to break into this crowd of bodies and get some food without drawing the ire of a bigger sibling. But that's easier said than done, as we see in this shot from Saturday morning where the fourth chick is not anywhere near the food.

Here is a set of shots that show how a food delivery usually takes place. The father brings in a fish, usually headless (he eats the head) and hands it off to the mother, who then feeds it to the young. Sometimes the father will take back the meal later if the mother did not finish it or if he is still hungry.

I had noticed that the father osprey often sits on the far left corner of the platform. When I asked the folks at the Refuge about it, they reported that there is an eagle that frequently sits in a snag off to the left of the platform. The eagle has not attacked the family, but the father osprey is not happy about the eagle's presence, and so the father likes to sit and glare at him from that corner of the nest. We also hear that the mother osprey occasionally calls out at the eagle as well. Technically, an eagle could take a chick, but it's kind of rare. Still the ospreys do not like a large predator being near their fish or their chicks.

Last year, I happened to be on our Wildlife Drive when a pair of eagles settled into the trees near the osprey platform. I had my video camera and was able to take some short movies of the mother osprey dive-bombing an offending eagle. You can see the videos in our web log archive.

Competition

Last year was the first year of our Osprey Cam where we saw clear signs of aggression and subordination within the nest, and it was clearly due to the father's infrequent meal deliveries; often the mother had to leave the young and go fishing herself. The 2005 nest only had two chicks, but the lack of food made the oldest chick very aggressive toward its sibling, and the youngest had a difficult time in the nest, spending many feedings with his head down in a subordinate posture. We believe this was directly tied to the father's poor fish delivery, because when we had two chicks in the previous years, we never saw this level of subservient behavior in a two-chick nest.

Now in 2006, we have a scenario we have not had before, in that we have four chicks. If the fourth chick can hang on and get some of the meals, then competition might develop between the last two chicks, with the third chick attacking the fourth.

In the fascinating book Return of the Osprey: A Season of Flight and Wonder, author David Gessner writes about an osprey nest he watched in Cape Cod, Massachusetts where the third chick pecked the fourth chick mercilessly, eventually killing it. Not all battles end with a physical murder. Sometimes the bullying chick will keep the youngest chick subordinate to the point that the youngest chick never gets enough food during meal time and then starves to death.

As for our osprey nest, we hear that after both the second and third chicks were born, the mother hesitated a bit before feeding them. But then it seemed she adjusted her feeding chores and managed to get some food to the lesser chicks as well.

Our friend Georgena Terry is a volunteer webmaster at the Friends of the Montezuma Wetlands Complex in New York and is also the founder of Terry Precision Bicycles. She was at the Refuge right after our second chick hatched, and she was able to observe the action on our TV monitor at the Visitor Center. Here are her comments:

"I saw some really neat behavior regarding the first feeding by one of the parents. The newest chick, wobbly though he was, had his head back and beak agape, waiting for his serving. The parent steadfastly fed the older chick, ignoring the younger one until almost all the fish had been devoured. Then she finally offered him a little piece. He took it in his beak, but was unable to get a good grip and fell over sideways, losing the fish and falling into an exhausted heap, but still sniffing about for that lost morsel. By then the feeding was over and the parent gathered the chicks and eggs together, tidied up and took them all under her breast again."

Sometimes a mother osprey seems to "favor" an older chick over the others, or in a crowded nest (three or four chicks) she might even stop feeding the youngest all together. The dominant chick will naturally be the first in line at meal time and will be served the most. Also the oldest will often peck at the other chicks to let them know they should act subordinate. The younger chicks learn that they have to wait to get a taste. Then the younger chicks do the same to the chicks beneath them to establish the "pecking order."

So to sum up, there are several factors at work in the survival of a chick: Birth order, quantity of food, and feeding method -- just to name three. But this is the way families operate in osprey and eagle nests, where the ultimate goal is not to turn out the most chicks, but to turn out chicks that will be strong enough to fledge and survive to breeding age. Because perpetuating the species is what the whole nesting season is all about.

As humans though, we naturally cheer for all the chicks to make it, because watching any of them die is hard to do. So we wish all the chicks the best of luck and hope that this nest will beat the odds.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

Chicks #1 and #2

Nest Update: Congratulations to our new parents, and welcome to our two new chicks! With an incubation period of 40 days, the first chick was a little late in arriving, but better late than never. And at 38 days, the second chick was very punctual and right on time.

Throughout Sunday and Monday, the mother osprey looked fidgety, and was checking on the eggs a lot, so we sensed that a chick was trying to hatch both days.

Here is one of the first photos we received on Sunday that clearly showed the oldest chick. In the photo, you can see a bit of broken shell by the young osprey, and you can also see the white stripe running down its back.

And here is a photo showing both chicks right after the second was born early Monday evening. You can see the youngest lying down and the oldest sitting up.

We hope that since they were born very close together, it might reduce some of the competition between them because the oldest chick will not have a great size advantage over the youngest. But we'll have to wait and see if that's the case.

Something else to note is how the parents have been adding sticks to the perimeter of the nest box. In this photo comparison from May, you can see where they've added them. We've seen osprey parents do this in other seasons because the sticks seem to be a type of "corral" that help keep the young chicks safe when they become more mobile and start crawling near the edge. Here you can see a photo from last year that shows how these sticks can come in handy when the chicks begin exploring.

Because the action is now heating up at the Osprey Cam -- while it's slowing down on the Eagle Cam --we've adjusted the refresh periods on the cams so that the ospreys are now at a 30-second refresh and the eagles are at a 3-minute refresh. This should make it easier to observe the small chicks.

As a reminder, the reason we have to juggle the refresh times on our cams is because our satellite dish provider has placed a limit on how much image traffic we can send via our dish. While we are still very interested in our fledgling eaglets and will continue their web log and gallery for a bit longer, the eaglets will not be spending as much time in the nest now that they're flying, so we would rather have a faster refresh time at the Osprey Cam now that we have a family to watch.

Thanks to all those who have sent in photos over the last week. We'll update the Osprey Gallery on Tuesday.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

Prelude to Hatching

Nest Update: We're about three days away from the possible start of hatching. The eggs look good at this point and none look prematurely broken.

As a reminder, here is our schedule assuming all eggs are fertile:

1st egg
Date laid: 4/11
Possible hatch: 5/19

2nd egg
Date laid: 4/14
Possible hatch: 5/22

3rd egg
Date laid: 4/17
Possible hatch: 5/25

4th egg
Date laid: 4/20
Possible hatch: 5/28

Keep in mind that some of the eggs might not hatch, or some might hatch earlier and even overlap, with more than one hatching in a day. The closer the chicks are in age, the better their chances for survival.

When each chick is ready to hatch, it will pierce the air sac inside the shell and start breathing air for the first time. Then it will use its egg tooth (on the tip of its beak) to chip away at the shell. As it works, the chick will make chirping noises, which the parents will be able to hear. The chick will frequently stop to rest -- since breaking free is very tiring and its lungs have to get used to fresh air -- then it will change position and continue cutting away until it has cut through the top end of the shell and is able to kick out the bottom section. This process could take 24 hours or more. Once the chick is out, it will not have to be fed right away because before it hatches, it absorbs the yolk and uses that for early nourishment. But we've seen the parents feed the young pretty quickly regardless.

Here is a wonderful photo that illustrates what two young osprey chicks look like not long after birth. You can see their egg tooth and also their small crop (for storing undigested food).

Once a chick is born, it will be small but visible on the cam image. Here are photos showing how the first chick appeared last year. Also, the chicks have a stripe down their backs, and sometimes you can see that identifying marker as well. Because the nest is out in the open, the stripes are thought to help camouflage the chicks in case a predator is flying over and looking for signs of young in the nest.

After the birth, we might see a broken eggshell in the nest. Sometimes the parents will eat this, but most times they will just remove it from the nest as leaving it there could tip off predators that new chicks are in the nest.

As is the case with raptor young, the first chick out has the advantage and will establish itself as the dominant chick. Every chick after that has a lesser chance of surviving because of sibling aggression and competition for food. But that is the way of raptor families, even though at times it seems unfair and unforgiving. Biologists often explain this reality by saying that the younger chicks are nature's way of providing "insurance" for the family in case something happens to the older chick(s).

Finally, there is one link I wanted to pass along, as it relates to nesting ospreys: Be sure to check out the website Osprey Watch, where photographer Bob Montanaro has created a photo journal of a nesting pair of ospreys living at Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge. Pelican Island NWR was created in 1903 by Teddy Roosevelt and was America's first national wildlife refuge. The osprey couple on this site are resident ospreys in Florida -- meaning they do not migrate -- and the photographer has provided a fascinating, close-up look at the nesting and chick-raising process. He even includes stunning photos of other types of wildlife that live near the ospreys. Visit the site to see what's in store for us in the upcoming months.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

Osprey Housekeeping

Nest Update: In about a week we expect to see the start of hatching. We'll talk more about the hatching process in the next web log entry, but a sign that the hatching has started is if the mother osprey is looking at the eggs a lot. She will hear and feel the chick trying to break through the egg before it makes an appearance, so her body language should indicate that something is happening.

As we've shown on the cam page, the father osprey has been bringing in some major fish lately. He seems to be a good provider, and that is a very positive sign if we are going to have more than two chicks surviving in the nest.

On another fish-related topic: Russ Yeaton, who is one of our cam watchers, recently shared some photos he took at Spring Point, in South Portland, Maine. The photos offer a good look at how an osprey carries its prey headfirst (to reduce drag) and how it starts eating the fish at the head. This is a common trait among fish-eating raptors because the head is supposed to be an easier area to tear into first. Click on the thumbnails below, and much thanks to Russ for sharing his photos.

Osprey Housekeeping

Over the last couple weeks, I've seen images from several other osprey cams on the Internet where nesting is going on much as it is at our nest. On a couple of the cams, I've seen funny looking material that the ospreys have brought to their home nests, and it reminded me of one aspect of osprey behavior that is pretty unique -- ospreys are junk collectors.

Whereas eagles seem to be rather conservative in choosing their nesting material, ospreys are flamboyant and creative -- and this quirkiness is well documented. For example, osprey experts, such as Alan Poole, have noted that ospreys exhibit a fondness for bringing all sorts of odd objects to their nests, such as toy boats, hula hoops, bicycle tires, and fishing nets. In the book Return of the Osprey, author David Gessner became fascinated with a Cape Cod osprey nest that had a Barbie doll in it -- although he later corrected himself and said it might have been a Spice Girl doll.

Earlier this week on a Washington state Osprey Cam you could see a nest with a large collection of colorful odds and ends, most of it looking like plastic or paper items. But the Connecticut Audubon Osprey Cam stole the show when one of the parents brought a bright blue teddy bear to the nest!

The oddest thing we've ever had at the Blackwater Osprey Cam platform is a bird's wing. Ospreys do not eat carrion (only fresh fish) and are considered relatively amiable toward other birds that aren't trying to steal their fish or attack their nests, so it's not likely the ospreys would kill another bird. Yet interestingly enough, bird expert Arthur Cleveland Bent has reported that ospreys have been known to bring the wings of ducks and gulls to their nests -- just the wings. In addition, he reported of hearing about osprey nests on Natividad Island in California that were made partly from Black-vented Shearwater wings (an ocean bird).

Seeing the quirkiness of osprey housekeeping is part of what adds to our pleasure in watching these fish hawks, but it does have a downside. Fishing line is a frequent item in osprey nests, as are hooks, and six-pack plastic rings. And such items have been known to kill both adults and chicks, as the material gets wrapped around the birds' bodies and legs.

Biologists have found during annual osprey surveys in the greater Chesapeake Bay area, that at least 5-10% of osprey nests contained fishing line. In addition, a 2003 survey on the local Patuxent River revealed that more than half the osprey nests contained fishing line, as well as other man-made materials. As a result, biologists found ospreys with entangled legs, beaks and wings. On some occasions, the material even led to the starvation or strangulation of the young.

Fortunately, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is pursuing a public education program to educate anglers, and those who live near the water, about the need to retrieve broken lines, lures, and hooks, as well as to cut open the circles on plastic six-pack rings before throwing them in the trash.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has published this Fishing Line Can Kill PDF flyer (640KB) that alerts citizens about the need to properly dispose of fishing material that might one day endanger an osprey family. So help out the ospreys by passing along this advice to any family and friends who spend time around bays, rivers, marshes, and lakes, which are prime osprey habitat.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

Egg Update & Fun Stuff

Nest Update: The eggs are about two weeks away from the start of hatching. All four eggs are still present and seem to be intact. Tom Miller, our wonderful ranger, is around the Visitor Center during different parts of the day, and he gets to occasionally see the Osprey Cam TV monitor where we have the live video feed. Tom says that you can see the parents sometimes struggle to get all four eggs under them for proper incubation.

What this means is that there is a chance one or two of the eggs might not get all the heat they need to produce a viable chick. So we wouldn't be surprised to see an egg or two not hatch. This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if the chick was going to hatch very late or struggle for food in a crowded nest. We would rather see the egg not hatch than see a fourth chick succumb to sibling aggression or starvation in the first couple weeks after hatching.

But at this time, all the eggs are there, so we'll hope for the best. Like all our cam watchers, those of us at the Refuge are unsure about just what will happen come May 19 and the week that follows, since we've never had four eggs at the cam nest. We'll just have to sit back and let nature be our guide.

Fun Stuff

Bob Quinn, a talented refuge photographer, sent me some photos he just took of our resident Blackwater ospreys. The first shot shows our cam pair on the platform. The next two photos show a different osprey couple on a water platform. And the final shot shows a flying osprey. Click on the thumbnails for larger versions. And much thanks to Bob for sharing these with us.

Also, in my last post I mentioned how funny it is to watch when one of the osprey parents is sitting on the eggs and does not want to get up to let the other parent take over. KimMarie is one of our cam watchers, but she is also an integral part of the Buffalo Peregrine Falcon Cam in New York. KimMarie sent me a short animated GIF file showing how her falcon parents sometimes exhibit the same behavior as our ospreys. In the clip below, the mother wants to take over the incubating duties, but the dad isn't in a hurry to vacate the nest. You can almost hear the conversation they might be having if they could talk. :-)

Falcon Changeover (800 KB)

If you have a slower Internet connection, give the movie a couple minutes to load. Much thanks to KimMarie for sharing her nest clip.

And finally I'd like to share a couple links that our cam watchers might enjoy. First, be sure to check out this amazing osprey website from France. The site should be in English, but if it's not, click on the little British flag in the upper right-hand corner to see the English version. And be sure to go to the Gallery section where they have a beautiful collection of osprey sketches, photos, and video clips.

Also, I'm a bit of a hummingbird fan, and someone pointed me to a site where they have photos of nesting hummingbirds. The galleries below show two different nesting seasons featuring Allen's Hummingbirds. At the end of each gallery page, click on the "next page" link to see more photos. The adult is about 3-4 inches long and the eggs are the size of jelly beans! Amazing to think that some species of hummingbirds migrate thousands of miles each year. Nature is truly a miraculous thing.

Nest 2005
Nest 2003

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

IMBD and Avian Flu

Nest Update: Thanks to everyone who sent in their photos for our latest Gallery update. We had a few interesting shots including one that was a bit mysterious.

In an early morning photo on April 29, we saw the male in a mating position on our female. The couple have not mated since the eggs were all laid, but suddenly the male was in position. We have to wonder if this was our male or a vagrant male that happened upon the cam platform. The female did not look alarmed at his presence, but she was also clearly not receptive to his advances since the egg laying is complete. A bit of a mystery that we'll watch for again.

We also saw a couple of funny changeover shots involving the two dutiful parents. When one parent is on the eggs and the other parent wants to take over, the best way to communicate this seems to be for the waiting parent to stand as close as possible to the sitting parent -- sometimes practically on top of them -- until they get off the eggs. Maybe the sitting parent is just too comfortable to move.

Speaking of the parents, one of our cam watchers asked about the parents' brood patch. The brood patch is a bare area on the bird's stomach where hot blood is close to the surface of the skin and extra heat is generated. Both the osprey parents have a brood patch, although the female's is larger. To illustrate, check out this photo of a robin's brood patch. The bird can use its skin muscles to open the feathers and expose the patch, which they press against the eggs. Birders are always saddened to find a dead bird with a brood patch because it means the adult had eggs or chicks nearby.

IMBD and Avian Flu

As we've mentioned in previous postings, our osprey population at Blackwater Refuge migrates south in the fall to spend the winter in Central or South America. In order to educate folks about the special needs of migratory birds, May 13, 2006 has been designated International Migratory Bird Day -- an annual event that we celebrate here in America.

At Blackwater Refuge we will be marking the event with a bird walk led by expert birder Terry Allen; the walk will start at 8:00 am and leave from our Visitor Center. Also, at 1:00 pm our Fire Control Officer, Bill Giese, will give a program called "Blackwater NWR - The First 30 Years." The presentation provides an overview of the area's history and natural resources which led to the establishment of Blackwater NWR. You can read more about these events on our Calendar page.

As my own way of recognizing International Migratory Bird Day, I wanted to pass along some useful information about avian or bird flu. As we all know, the bird virus H5N1 has been making its way around many parts of the world. At this stage, it has not reached North America, but many experts think that it eventually will.

The United States government has been taking precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, such as preventing the importation of poultry from countries where the H5N1 virus has been found. In addition, the government has been preparing for possible transmission by migratory bird populations. Government experts say they do not know what role migrating birds could play in the spread of the virus, but they have to assume that wild birds could bring the virus to North America.

Because Alaska is at the crossroads of bird migration flyways, scientists think that the H5N1 virus would most likely arrive there if it spread to North America via migratory birds. Government experts believe that one of the best ways to prevent the spread of the virus is early warning detection, so in 2006, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its cooperators plan to collect between 75,000 to 100,000 samples from live and dead wild birds.

The testing of wild birds has, in fact, been going on for some time. The National Wildlife Health Center reports, "Since 1998, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) has tested over 12,000 migratory birds in the Alaska flyway and since 2000, USDA has tested almost 4,000 migratory birds in the Atlantic flyway [where Blackwater Refuge is located]. All birds in these flyways have tested negative for the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus of concern. Since the summer of 2005, the Department of Interior (DOI) has been working with the State of Alaska to strategically sample migratory birds in the Pacific flyway. DOI has already carried out more than 1,700 tests on samples from more than 1,100 migratory birds. There have been 22 avian influenza isolates identified, but none have been highly pathogenic."

So what does this mean for North American citizens -- especially those who feed birds, monitor nest boxes, or enjoy bird watching outdoors? The Cornell Lab of Ornithology -- a highly respected birding authority -- has published a helpful website that provides information for bird lovers regarding the virus. You can visit their Bird Flu website to find frequently asked questions, advice for bird watchers, and ten important facts you should know about avian flu.

It's important to remember that at this time the H5N1 virus is not easily transmitted from human to human, and the majority of cases of human illness from the H5N1 virus have been related to close contact with diseased poultry or poultry products, rather than wild birds.

The Cornell Lab advises that when dealing with wild birds, you should continue to take the normal precautions: "As always, to avoid contracting any illness from wild birds, you should wash your hands thoroughly with soap or hand sanitizer after handling bird feeders, bird nests, birdbaths, or water contaminated by bird droppings. Avoid touching bird droppings or dead birds. If you must move a dead bird, use disposable gloves or double plastic bags."

If you would like more detailed scientific information, you can also visit the Avian Influenza sections of the National Wildlife Health Center website, and also the Centers for Disease Control website.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)