(e) = estimate * = morbidity and mortality

California Dept. of Fish & Game-Wildlife Invest. Lab (CA); Centers for Disease Control, Ft. Collins, CO (CDC); Colorado Division of Wildlife (CO), Connecticut Ag. Exp. Station & Univ. of Connecticut (CT); Illinois Dept. of Nat. Res. (IL); Live- stock Disease Diagnostic Center (KY); Louisiana Game & Fish (LA); Nat'l Wildlife Health Center (NW); New Jersey Dept. of Fish & Wildlife (NJ); New York State Dept. of Env. Cons. (NY); Purdue Diagnostics Lab (PD); Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study (SC); US Geological Survey (GS), Washington Dept. of Fish & Game (WA), and Wisconsin Dept. of Nat. Res. (WI).

Written and compiled by Kathryn Converse, Kimberli Miller, Linda Glaser, Terry Creekmore, and Audra Schrader, National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC). To report mortality or if you would like specific information on these mortalities, contact one of the following NWHC staff: Western US Kathryn Converse; Eastern US--Kimberli Miller; Hawaiian Islands--Thierry Work. Phone (608) 270-2400, FAX (608) 270-2415 or E-mail kathy_converse@usgs.gov. National Wildlife Health Center, 6006 Schroeder Road, Madison, WI 53711.

Quarterly Mortality Reports

During rush hour on March 30, 2000 in Bowie, Maryland, traffic was snarled and motorists startled along Route 50 when 200-250 starlings "rained" down on traffic. Carcasses examined at the National Wildlife Health Center and the Maryland Department of Agriculture had extensive traumatic lesions and have tested negative for a variety of toxins. An airport is nearby and it is possible the birds were caught in a down draft. Of interest, when the event was reported to authorities, several motorists misidentified the birds as "chickens".

Over the past year, at least seven Stellars jays with swollen feet have been observed on the Campus of Humboldt State University in Humboldt, California. Mite fragments were observed microscopically in sections of foot lesions of the one bird was submitted to NWHC. This mite was most likely podoknemidokoptiasis, the scaly-leg mite.

Epizootics of salmonellosis in songbirds using bird feeders were reported in March by several diagnostic laboratories and private citizens in the states of Illinois, Georgia, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia. Pine siskins and redpolls were the primary species affected. Birds submitted to NWHC, Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, Michigan Rose Lake Wildlife Research Center and New York Dept of Conservation Wildlife Pathology Unit were confirmed to have salmonellosis. Serotyping is in progress on isolates obtained at NWHC however, the Rose Lake Center has previously confirmed S. typhimurium. Salmonellosis is a common cause of songbird mortality in the US and generally occurs as small, localized sporadic events. The last large-scale distribution of mortality occurred in the winter of 1998, when salmonellosis was confirmed in goldfinches, redpolls, and pine siskins in 16 states located primarily in the eastern and Midwestern United States.

Avian cholera was confirmed in double-crested cormorants in February on a nesting island in the Salton Sea, California. This disease was last reported in cormorants in 1979 (Montgomery et al. 1979. The epornitic of avian cholera on the Chesapeake Bay. Avian Diseases 23: 966-978).

The USGS Alaska Biological Science Center has reported observations of grossly deformed bills in a minimum of 194 birds of 12 species. The greatest number of affected birds are black-capped chickadees. The earliest report was in 1991 but the majority of the reports have been during the past two winters. The etiology of these deformities remains unknown and tests for common contaminants have been inconclusive. Currently the Center is examining DNA of deformed chickadees to detect any links between birds. More information is available at http://www.absc.usgs.gov/research/bpif/requests.html.

In November 1999, hundreds of Northern leopard frogs were found dead and dying in a creek near Butte, North Dakota. The sick frogs were lethargic and had skin ulcers. The mortality was confirmed to be due to a newly described and highly lethal chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis). This epizootic marked the first known case of chytridiomycosis to occur in frogs in North Dakota or adjacent states or provinces. Major population declines in amphibians in other locations are thought to be due to infections of this fungus.

For additional information please contact Dr. Scott Wright, USGS National Wildlife Health Center - Disease Investigations Branch Chief, at 608-270-2460 or Paul Slota, USGS National Wildlife Health Center - Support Services Branch Chief at 608-270-2420.