1,500 Northward Migrating Sandhill Cranes Dead in Southern Indiana
Birds inhabiting Michigan’s lower peninsula, and at least one other Laurentian Great Lakes region state – Indiana, have experienced a particularly lethal outbreak of the highly contagious virus known as avian influenza since the beginning of the new year. Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) is an extremely contagious virus that infects a wide range of both wild and domestic birds. Causing sickness and sometimes death, the virus known as avian influenza spreads primarily through fecal droppings or nasal discharge of an infected bird. It is important to note that based upon several outbreaks of avian influenza that have occurred on Michigan dairy farms over the course of the past year, certain mammals, and in particular dairy cattle, are also known to be highly vulnerable to the frequently lethal disease.
According to the Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, the emergence and spread of avian influenza is closely linked to the movement of migratory waterfowl such as Canadian geese and other large migrating birds such as sandhill cranes (pictured) that are known to travel on a seasonal basis along flyways that are “analogous to highways in the sky for migrating birds.” The flyways that cross the United States from north to south are the Pacific, Central, Mississippi, and Atlantic. Michigan is within the Central and Mississippi flyways. The high level of vulnerability of migratory birds to avian influenza was illustrated by a Indiana Department of Natural Resources report that as many as 1,500 migrating (south to north) sandhill cranes succumbed to the highly contagious virus in southern Indiana’s Jackson County in mid-February.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has recently sampled dead wild waterfowl that are suspected to be positive for the highly contagious respiratory disease at multiple locations distributed throughout Lower Michigan. These include 77 dead Canada geese and one dead mallard duck from the Fennville Farm Unit at Allegan State Game Area, 80 dead Canada geese along the Shiawassee River near Owosso, 25 dead Canada geese at Williamston Lake in Ingham County, and an additional 20 mallard ducks and Canadian geese along the Grand River in Grand Ledge in Eaton County. Moreover, about 100 Canadian geese and ducks that are suspected of succumbing to highly pathogenic avian influenza were recently reported near Ann Arbor located in southern Michigan’s Washtenaw County.