> Birds Feeding at Lake Erie Die in Botulism Outbreak
> By JIM ROBBINS
>
>
> his fall is turning out to be the deadliest yet for
> loons, ducks and other birds that encounter a natural
> outbreak of a rare form of the nerve toxin botulism in
> Lake Erie.
>
> Dr. Ward Stone, director of the New York Department of
> Environmental Conservation Pathology Laboratory in
> Delmar, N.Y., which studies the dead birds, said that
> over the last two weeks his staff had picked up more
> than 5,500 birds along the shores of Lake Erie in
> western New York, between Buffalo and Dunkirk,
> including 126 loons, 4,500 long-tailed ducks, geese,
> grebes, mergansers, scaups and many types of gulls. He
> said the birds found were only a small part of the
> total number killed. "We're very concerned," he said.
> "This is the tip of the iceberg."
>
> Canadian wildlife officials have also found large
> numbers of birds on Lake Erie. They have counted more
> than 1,000 dead loons, including 700 on an 18-mile
> stretch of beach at Long Point, Ontario. Loons are of
> special concern because their numbers in the region
> are low.
>
> The birds died after eating fish infected with type E
> botulism, officials said.
>
> The botulism outbreak killed thousands of resident
> birds in the same area this summer. Those that have
> died in recent weeks are migratory waterfowl moving
> south. It is the fourth year the bacteria have
> appeared to kill birds, and no one knows how many
> years it might last.
>
> This year, New York wildlife officials, who are
> gathering as many carcasses as they can find, are
> trying a new approach, hoping to head off the
> poisoning of eagles, hawks and other scavengers. The
> toxin does not pose a threat to humans, officials say,
> as long as they do not eat fish or ducks that appear
> to be healthy.
>
> This is believed to be the largest outbreak of type E
> botulism in the United States, and it is believed to
> be caused by an invasion of exotic species. A
> proliferation of quagga and zebra mussels, brought
> from Europe in ocean-going freighters, has greatly
> cleaned the water in Lake Erie, allowing sunlight to
> penetrate to much greater depths and increasing the
> production of weeds. Botulism thrives in decaying
> weeds and is apparently ingested by the mussels, and
> another exotic species, a fish called the round goby.
> Birds die when they eat the gobies or mussels.
>
> The outbreak is expected to end when the lake cools
> sometime in the next couple of weeks.
>
>


****************************
Vivian Gross
Kirkland, WA
mailto:vlgross at aol.com
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From: Temple Pearson <birdtee934 at YAHOO.COM>
Subject: [IN-BIRD-L] Interesting NY Times article today
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 09:21:38 -0800
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