Birds don’t have this problem. If the loss is in their inner ear, their bodies repair the damage. Learn more in this vintage article: Birds Can Recover Lost Hearing.
Perhaps birds can recover their hearing because their lives depend on it. Gene Henderson reminded me of a high-pitched danger call that American robins make. At 7200 to 8400 Hertz it’s now outside my hearing range. Can you hear the four calls in the recording below at 2,5,8 and 11 seconds? They look like checkmarks on the sonogram.
American robin danger call (recording by Kate St. John)
Cornell Wildlife Health Lab at Cornell University has even better news:
As the mysterious illness killing birds lessens, scientists at the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab believe the cause may have been the recent cicada eruption.
Cornell’s cicada hypothesis is based on data from the National Wildlife Health Center and the consortium of wildlife agencies investigating the mysterious deaths, summarized here from the Ithaca Times article:
The illness appeared about a week after the Brood X cicadas emerged in mid-May.
The geographic distribution of the illness matches the Brood X map, including its non-contiguous nature, yellow on the map below.
The illness did not spread to nearby states that did not have Brood X cicadas.
The illness waned as the cicadas died off and dropped precipitously after the cicadas disappeared.
This is great news for western Pennsylvania. We do not have Brood X cicadas, instead we have Broods V and VIII, the last of which appeared in the Pittsburgh area as Brood VIII in 2019. It will be 12 to 15 years before they re-emerge: Brood V in 2033 and Brood VIII in 2036. If the problem was caused by magicicadas we’re off the hook in Pittsburgh for a very long time.
Brood V Magicicada in Pittsburgh, 30 May 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)
Nature doesn’t follow state lines and political boundaries but state agencies have to. Thus all of Pennsylvania was told to stop feeding birds until scientists learned more about the mysterious bird deaths. Scientists are getting close to an answer and soon (I hope!) we’ll be able to feed birds again.
In summer, folks in western Pennsylvania and northern Ohio flock to Lake Erie‘s shore to beat the heat. The water provides a respite but in July the western end is hotter than anywhere else in the Great Lakes. That’s because Lake Erie is shallow and shallow water is quick to take on the temperature of the surrounding air. So how shallow is Lake Erie?
Lake Erie is the fourth in line of the five Great Lakes and happens to be fourth largest by surface area — 9,940 square miles.
But as you can see in this bathymetric map it is also the shallowest (blue is deep, red is shallow). Lake Erie’s average depth is only 62 feet with the deepest spot just 210 feet near Long Point, Ontario.
It’s easier to see how shallow it is in this diagram from Michigan Sea Grant. Even Lake Ontario, the smallest by surface area, is 3.8 times deeper! (Lakes Michigan and Huron are superimposed on each other because they have the same pool level, 577 feet above sea level. Click here to see the complete diagram.)
Since the shallowest water is first to heat and first to freeze, the surface temperatures roughly match the lake depths. As of yesterday, 13 July 2021, the water at the western end of Lake Erie was close to 80 degrees F.
(photo and first two maps from Wikimedia Commons, Great Lakes system profile from Michigan Sea Grant, Great Lakes Suface Temperature from NOAA; click on the captions to see the originals)
Symptoms of the illness include a discharge and/or crusting around the eyes, eye lesions, and/or neurologic signs such as falling over or head tremors. Infected birds always die. Scientists are investigating but still don’t know what’s causing it.
The disease has been reported in 27 Pennsylvania counties in these species: blue jays, European starlings, common grackles, American robins, northern cardinals, house finches, house sparrows, eastern bluebirds, red-bellied woodpeckers, Carolina chickadees, and Carolina wrens. Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research in Newark, DE has found that the disease primarily affects fledgling European starlings, blue jays, and common grackles.
Counties in Pennsylvania reporting mysterious bird disease as of 1 July 2021
Cease feeding birds and providing water in bird baths until this wildlife mortality event has concluded to prevent potential spread between birds and to other wildlife.
Clean feeders and bird baths with a 10% bleach solution.
Avoid handling dead or injured wild birds. Wear disposable gloves if it’s necessary to handle a bird.
Keep pets away from sick or dead birds as a standard precaution.
To dispose of dead birds, place them in a sealable plastic bag and discard with household trash. This will prevent disease transmission to other birds and wildlife.
To underscore the point, Audubon Nature Stores will discontinue the sale of seed and bird feeders for the time being.
Do your part. Stop feeding birds until this wildlife crisis is over.
A NOTE TO COMMENTERS: Comments on this blog are moderated. If you post a comment that is profane or could inflame others, I will edit it or delete it.
UPDATE, 2 July 2021: The mysterious illness has now been reported in DC + eight states: VA, WV, MD, PA, DE, IN, OH, KY and more closely matches the Brood X cicada map though this may be a coincidence. My revised attempt at mapping the bird death hotspots, below, is just a rough idea not the whole story. i.e. Do not rely on my map!
Inaccurate map of bird death hotspots as of 1 July 2021 (markup by Kate St. John)
UPDATE from PA Game Commission, 8 July 2021 (posted here on 21 July): As of 8 July 2021 Wildlife Futures received 1,525 reports of dead birds in Pennsylvania. Roughly 25-30% (approximately 500) are likely associated with the current songbird mortality event. To date, the morbidity/mortality event appears to be targeting fledgling common grackles, blue jays, European starlings, and American robins. So far the following pathogens have been ruled out: Salmonella, Chlamydia, avian influenza virus, West Nile virus, Newcastle disease virus, herpesviruses, poxviruses, and Trichomonas parasite.
(photo from NPS via DNREC, maps from Wikimedia Commons. Click on the captions to see the originals)
Just a reminder that with Bug Season in full swing you may encounter this dangerously invasive pest, the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) that sucks the sap out of grapes, fruit trees, oaks, black cherries and its favorite the invasive Ailanthus or Tree of heaven.
Look around and you may see one crawling on stems, leaves, vines or trees. Keep in mind that for most of its life this bug cannot fly but it changes appearance as it matures.
In May and June it’s a tiny black bug with white spots, only 1/4 long, as shown here.
A mysterious illness, first recorded in the DC area in mid April 2021, is blinding and killing songbirds in six states. Scientists at many labs are investigating but there are still no answers. No one knows what’s causing it.
Symptoms include crusted-over eyes, blindness, seizures, loss of balance, and death within a day. Indiana DNR reports that the illness mostly affects medium-sized songbirds: blue jays, American robins (photo at top), common grackles (photo below), starlings, northern cardinals, and brown-headed cowbirds.
So far the disease has been reported in the DC area including Virginia, Maryland, and the eastern panhandle of WV, and in central and southwestern Ohio, parts of Indiana, and north-central Kentucky. My attempt to map the disease centers, below, is missing many incidents outside the red dots. UPDATE, 2 July 2021: The illness is also in PA and Delaware, now in 8 states, shown below.
Inadequate map of bird death hotspots as of 1 July 2021 (markup by Kate St. John)
Counties in Indiana reporting mysterious bird disease as of 27 June 2021
Residents in affected areas are asked to take their feeders down so that birds do not congregate. There are good reasons to do so …
Megan Kirchgessner, a veterinarian with Virginia’s Department of Wildlife Resources, said “From a veterinary perspective, especially in the springtime when food is abundant, there’s no reason for those feeders to be out,” she said. “And to be perfectly honest, especially in a situation like this, they can do more harm than good.”
Though no one knows what’s causing the illness, avian flu and West Nile virus have been ruled out.
Some, including an ornithologist at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, have speculated the illness is related to the Brood X cicada emergence (yellow on the map below), that the birds are consuming pesticide-laden or fungus-laden cicadas. If so, the disease will disappear in July when the cicadas do and will not return for 17 years.
Tomorrow Stonehenge will have its biggest day of the year even though no one can be there to see it. The prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England usually attracts a crowd of 30,000 to watch the sun rise over the Heel Stone on the summer solstice but a new COVID-19 surge canceled the festivities. The sun will rise anyway, shining on stones imported from Wales.
Constructed in phases, Stonehenge began as an earthworks 5,000 years ago with a bluestone (Heel Stone) outside the main entrance oriented toward the summer solstice. Later phases added bluestones in a ring, a horseshoe and other key locations. Then sandstone monoliths were added to surround the bluestones. After maintenance ended about 3,600 years ago the site slowly fell apart.
Since the 1600s archaeologists have worked to uncover Stonehenge’s configuration, building phases and purpose. They easily discovered that the sandstone monoliths came from local rock but it took a long time to figure out that the first stones, bluestones of igneous dolerite weighing 2 to 4 tons, came from a prehistoric quarry in the Preseli Hills in Wales, 140 miles (200 km) away.
The stones were well worth moving.
Researchers from the Royal College of Art in London discovered that the monument’s igneous bluestones possess “unusual acoustic properties” – when struck they respond with a “loud clanging noise.” … In certain ancient cultures, rocks that ring out were believed to contain mystic or healing powers.
But there was a gap. The Presili quarry closed 200-500 years before Stonehenge began. Where were the stones in the intervening centuries?
Researchers led by University College London archaeologist Michael Parker Pearson searched for ritual structures in the Preseli region that might have provided the stones—and the blueprint—for Stonehenge. In 2017 and 2018, they excavated parts of an ancient monument called Waun Mawn, where a handful of toppled bluestones similar to those at Stonehenge form a partial circle.
When the sun rises over the Heel Stone at Stonehenge tomorrow, it will touch many rocks imported from Wales.
(photos from Wikimedia Commons)
p.s. The illustration linked here from creatureandcreator.ca by Terence W. Picton, makes it easier to understand the bluestones (blue) and sandstones (orange). Picton explains that his diagram is based on two illustrations from other sources: Johnson, 2008, p. 166 and the English Heritage Webpage. It does not include the Avenue and Heel Stone.
Addicted birders like me keep lists of the birds they see. At first it’s a Life List of each new species. Eventually it morphs into listing by state or county or a yard list of birds seen at home.
When I lived in Greenfield warblers were on my yard list during spring migration. Without a backyard in Oakland there are no warblers outside my window but I now have peregrine falcons as Yard Birds.
On Thursday 17 June I was reading a book on the roof deck of my building (with view at top) when I heard a young peregrine whining. Where was it? Was it in trouble? No.
I found Ecco on St. Paul’s steeple with a juvie female nearby (she was at the pink circle in photo below). When he moved out of her sight-line she fell silent (Ecco moved to red circle on left of steeple). When he sneaked over to peek around the corner she saw him and whined again.
I tweeted at 11:05am: Two Pitt peregrines on steeple at St. Paul’s Cathedral: Ecco + whining female youngster, probably fledgling #4. She is not stuck, is perched just fine and whining in the most annoying way.
Moments later her brother showed up and perched above her (white circle) hoping to share lunch if her whining was successful. At 11:12am: Now 3 peregrines on St. Paul’s Cathedral steeple. Male juvie joined the group. Whiny juvie female still whining.
Ecco left to go hunting.
That evening an adult peregrine flew in from the northeast, heading for the Cathedral of Learning. I saw one again last evening outside this window.
Looking east, 19 June 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)
Though I don’t have a backyard I do have Yard Birds. 🙂
By the way, if I’d been watching from the roof deck on Tuesday afternoon (15 June) I could have seen what Pushkar Mutha captured in these videos. Thanks for sharing them, Pushkar!
Playing in the sky #1, video by Pushkar Mutha
Playing in the sky #2, video by Pushkar Mutha. Coincidentally, the background music seems to fit their activity.
Young peregrine lands on the Cathedral of Learning lightning rod, video by Pushkar Mutha.
UPDATE on 19 June: At 10am both adult peregrines were perched on Heinz Chapel steeple. At noon two juvenile peregrines whined from the roof of Webster Hall.
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