More birds death worldwide

Virus Threatens Birds in the Juarez, Mexico
There's virus spreading in Juarez, Mexico that killed hundreds of birds. Birds have dropped dead across the city and now people are hoping the outbreak does not spread to all poultry. The virus spreads through the air, it spreads through the contact with any discharges from the bird or tissues. It causes nasal and eye discharge, diarrhea, paralysis, tremors and even sudden death in birds. A smaller local outbreak happened in 2003 in El Paso's Lower Valley. (Virus Threatens Birds in the Borderland @ NewsChannel9HD)

More Marine Lake (UK) swans hit by mystery illness
A further 17 swans have been taken off the Marine Lake due to a mystery illness. The total number of swans removed from the water in 10 days is now 36, with at least seven dead and the rest in critical conditions.
The ill birds are being looked after at Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre in Cheshire. Post-mortem examinations are also being carried out. Volunteers from the RSPCA have been working together with Southport Swan Rescue to save the remaining birds on the lake. RSPCA inspector Ian Robertson said: “This is getting up to a third of all the swans in the lake in a space of time that isn’t even two weeks. All we know so far is that it is a bacterial problem. Something is going on, that is for sure. We just don’t know exactly what it is yet.” (More Marine Lake swans hit by mystery illness, taking death toll to at least seven, with 29 in a critical condition @ Southport Visiter)

Starving eagles falling out of the sky in Canada

When David Hancock saw the bald-eagle count on the Chehalis River drop from more than 7,000 to fewer than 400 over a few days in December, he knew a crisis was coming. Earlier this week, news reports that starving eagles were “falling out of the sky” in the Comox Valley, on Vancouver Island, confirmed his fears. Wildlife rescue centres on the Island have reported birds growing so weak from hunger that they fall out of trees, or fly so clumsily they hit things. The Collapse of chum salmon runs has left British Columbia’s bald-eagle population without enough food to make it through the winter, leaving them weak from hunger and forcing thousands of birds to scavenge at garbage dumps. “It was absolutely incredible. Within 10 days, we had gone from 7,200 eagles to 345 … So I knew it was going to be a pretty desperate winter,” said Mr. Hancock. (Starving eagles ‘falling out of the sky’@ TheGlobeAndMail)

More dead birds found in Alabama

Earth-Issues blog reporting about a groups of black, medium-sized birds lying dead along about a 100-yard stretch of AL Hwy. 35 just north of the Tennessee River in Scottsboro, AL. The birds were scattered across all 5 lanes of highway, from shoulder to shoulder and many showed no signs of encounters with traffic, especially those on the shoulders and in the rarely-used turning lane. Hwy. 35 in that area has light traffic and it is inconceivable that so many birds could be hit by traffic while alive over such a wide area. Authorities were not aware of the situation apparently, as traffic was forced to slow down for the phenomenon. (More dead birds @ Earth-Issues)

New cases of bird flu in South Korea, India, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh
South Korea confirmed an additional case of bird flu at a farm near Seoul. The new case of the H5N1 virus was confirmed at the chicken farm in Yeoju, about 100 kilometers southeast of Seoul. About 30,000 chickens on the farm have been culled to prevent the spread of the disease. A record 5.5 million birds have been put to death due to the disease, which began in December last year. Hundreds of chicken suddenly died in Deli Serdang regency in North Sumatra, Surakarta, Central Java and Garut regency, West Java. Five people also displayed flu symptoms soon after hundreds of poultry in their neighbourhoods died. A total of 22 new outbreaks of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus have been reported across the Bangladesh. Four new outbreaks of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus involving more than 224,000 poultry have been reported on Kyushu and Honshu, Japan. There have been four outbreaks of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in different provinces in VietNam. Health workers have killed about 4,000 ducks and chickens at a government-run farm in the remote north-eastern Indian state of Tripura after some tested positive for bird flu. (Birdflu returns @ PoultrySite)