A massive die-off of American Robins occurred at Radford University this afternoon—students of wildlife biologist Dr. Karen Powers discovered a huge flock of birds, some already dead and some floundering on the ground, and quickly alerted Dr. Powers about the situation. Only two live survivors, which will be kept in strict quarantine at the Center (just in case of a pathogen), were rescued while at least fifty-five were pronounced dead at the scene (surveying for birds is still ongoing). The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources is currently investigating the incident and will be testing the birds to determine the cause of death. After an hour, the two survivors are now lively and doing well with no noticeable injuries, symptoms, or odd behavior. The quick recovery of survivors and the pre-death symptoms of the birds who died are not consistent with avian flu and there is no reason to suspect that at this time (although the birds will be checked just in case). While we don’t for sure the cause of these sudden deaths, we do know American Robins are susceptible to poisoning due to their natural history and are sometimes used as a measure of environmental health because of this trait. Another theory is that these bird died due to intoxication—robins primarily eat fruit in the winter and cycles of freezing and thawing like we’ve had this winter can cause berries to ferment. When birds eat fermented berries they can accidentally become drunk—or worse, suffer alcohol poisoning and die. We’ll let you know what we discover as the story unfolds—DWR has told us it may a while to run all the tests they need to run to get a conclusive answer. It’s always sad to see that many dead animals, but we’re glad at least two of them will get a second chance at life. Thank you to Dr. Powers and her students for such a quick abs organized response to the dire situation! swvawilldlifecenter.org #radfordva #newrivervalley #americanrobin #birds #radforduniversity https://www.instagram.com/p/CaGNJrcJU1K/?utm_medium=tumblr
