Biologists on lookout for avian influenza

“I hear this is the weather you really want for duck hunting,” Kari Kingery said, as rain dripped from the hood of her parka Saturday.

Kingery, a biologist with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Wildlife Management Program, was manning a check station south of Ronan on opening day of the migratory waterfowl season, along with Jerry Wiscomb of the USDA Wildlife Services and several University of Montana students. The crew was taking samples from hunter-harvested birds, looking for evidence of avian influenza.

Wiscomb and an assistant carefully threaded plastic tubes into the bills of ducks, shot by the Hauge family near Charlo. Samples will be sent to a lab at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, and any that test positive will be forwarded to the National Veterinary Science Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.

“So far this year, we’re good,” Wiscomb said of test results.

“It’s because the waterfowl congregate together in flocks, and a lot of the waterfowl kind of mix it up in the north, some coming from the Asian continent, and some coming from the American continent, mixing it around and spreading it,” Wiscomb said.

He added that migratory birds often don’t show symptoms. But when they do, they tend to look lethargic, swim in circles, and perhaps tilt their head to one side.

Avian influenza can spread to humans, and waterfowl – because of their vast migrations – are key carriers of the disease. It’s especially lethal for domestic poultry, “So that's what the big concern is, and that's why we do a lot of the testing,” Kingery said.

She noted that traces of the virus have also been found in mammal populations in Montana, including raccoons, skunks and even grizzly bears.

According to Kingery, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) has been detected in bald eagles on the Flathead Reservation and may be contributing to a decline in the species’ nesting population.

“We had quite a few bald eagle mortalities last year due to HPAI,” she said. “And we’ve worked with a lot of rehabilitators on sick animals.”

The birds often show neurological symptoms, such as lingering on the ground or appearing to be lethargic. While some survived, with help, many did not.

“We have seen a dip in our bald eagle population this year in all of our flight counts,” Kingery added. “We’re not sure if that's due to avian influenza or other factors, but we have noticed a lot fewer nests out there than we normally see along the river.”

Avian influenza, while more prevalent in waterfowl, is not as lethal – which is why the birds end up spreading it around so effectively.

“They don't present symptoms or show a lot of illness, but they are interacting with other birds that then take it to new areas or are intermingling in the same areas as domestic poultry,” Kingery said.

Thorough cooking will kill the pathogen. Wiscomb says the USDA recommends bringing the meat to a temperature of 165 degrees.

“But a hunter would say, ‘please, no,’” he added. “That’s overcooked for anybody that knows better.”

The USDA also recommends using gloves to process waterfowl or upland game birds, “but we recommend that with any kind of animal, any kind of meat,” Wiscomb said. “Always take care of yourself.”