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rekees4300
Elite Member
Mossie you probably right. One reason is to watch the birds starve after we make them dependent upon us.
Indiana Songbird Deaths
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BravoXray
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I heard a story on NPR the other day that in the east, especially around DC, the time when sick and dying birds appeared seem to be directly correlated to the emergence of cicadas.
One possibility mentioned was that the cicadas were accumulating and concentrating pesticides or other toxins in their bodies over the 17 years pupal stage, and the birds were being poisoned by eating them.
Sounds plausible.
Interestingly, I have yet to see or hear a single cicada around my place so far this year.Nor have I seen any sick or dead birds.
One possibility mentioned was that the cicadas were accumulating and concentrating pesticides or other toxins in their bodies over the 17 years pupal stage, and the birds were being poisoned by eating them.
Sounds plausible.
Interestingly, I have yet to see or hear a single cicada around my place so far this year.Nor have I seen any sick or dead birds.
Diggin It
Super Star Member
If true, why would they have emerged instead of ... you know ... dying?
cqaigy2
Super Member
That's pretty easy to reason out. Here's a story problem. One bug has x amount of poison. You eat one bug, you ingest 1x of poison, now eat two bugs. How much poison have you ingested?
Unlikely the cicadas are emerging with "17 years of poison" that's killing birds, when this didn't happen just a few years ago when that hatch of cicadas emerged after 17 years. Also, in a couple of those articles, buried at the end, DNR says they were recording this illness in the birds weeks prior to any cicadas.
After seeing the symptoms and images of the birds, we remembered last year at this same time we had several sick song birds around the feeders and up against the house foundation. I remember saying they acted blind. They were dead within a couple days of us first noticing them, one at a time, over several weeks. Then no more later in the summer.
Diggin It
Super Star Member
It dies. It doesn't emerge from the ground for the birds to get to.
I keep wondering about a mold or fungus, sort of like a red tide in sea waters. Not too long ago there was a report of dogs getting sick or dying after drinking pond water.
Then you wonder if these are Ag areas and something that was sprayed could be the cause.
Next is the birdseed itself .... did it come from the same supplier (regardless of brand name on the bag)?
cqaigy2
Super Member
oosik
Epic Contributor
About twelve years ago Ea WA state experienced a large bird die off. It affected crows, ravens, jay & magpies. All are members of the Corvidae family. This was identified as West Nile virus. The major concern was - so many birds dying and the possibility of transmission to humans and horses.
It vanished as rapidly as it appeared.
It vanished as rapidly as it appeared.
MossRoad
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We've had west nile virus here for quite a while now.
