Birds and West Nile Virus
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Year round Chicago Birds
Wintering Birds
Bird Migration: the Chicago Flyway
West Nile Virus vector
The Migration - West Nile Link
Ornithology
Year Round Birds
American Crows
Northern Cardinals
Downy Woodpeckers
Black-capped Chickadees
Brown-headed Cowbird
American Goldfinch
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
House Finch***
Starling****
House Sparrow****
Released (native SW) 1930
Invasive (released 1890 N.Y.)
Invasive (released 1850 to control
insects)
Released 1970s (Hyde park colony)
Monk Parakeet***
Crow
Note the density pattern in
this slide
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/infocenter.html
Northern Cardinal
Downy Woodpecker
Black-capped chickadee
Blue Jay
Ring Billed Gull
and
Ring-billed gulls are the ones noticed
by most people. They are even seen
around shopping malls and fast food
restaurants. They also follow farmers
tilling the soil, looking for grubs and
other things to eat.
Herring Gull
Central Illinois Bird Count, Winter 2001-2002
By Liam Ford, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff
Published July 24, 2002
…..
Officials hoped lower temperatures and higher winds Tuesday would cut the levels of the
bacteria Chicago officials believe may have been bred by several days of hot weather and still
water, but they won't know if swimmers can wade back in until Wednesday.
…… University of Michigan scientist, Rolf Deininger, is trying to get funding to further develop a
test he believes will give results in 45 minutes and make use of technology that includes bonding
the same material that causes fireflies to glow to E. coli antibodies. An intergovernmental agency
in California is set to put out a call for proposed new testing methods in a few weeks.
As EPA and Chicago officials get set to begin work with U.S. Geological Survey researchers on
trying out candidates for a new test, one of the USGS scientists who has been involved in
researching Chicago-area beach closings said he has seen closings like Chicago's along
Indiana's shoreline this year.
Richard Whitman, who will be among those leading the Chicago test tryouts, said scientists have
so far been unable to pinpoint exactly what causes E. coli outbreaks on hot, stagnant days. But
warm, shallow water in a Lake Michigan with historically low water levels likely plays a part, he
said.
"We do know that shallower waters harbor more bacteria," Whitman said. "They just sit there and
circulate and get nice and warm."
Although only one North Shore beach, in Waukegan, was closed Monday, three--the North and
South Beaches in Waukegan and the North Point Marina Beach in Winthrop Harbor--were closed
Tuesday because of high bacteria levels, at least partly due to seagull droppings, another big
source of E. coli. Meanwhile, Evanston, Wilmette and Glencoe closed their beaches because of
high waves.
By MARIE ROHDE
mrohde@journalsentinel.com
Last Updated: Oct. 28, 2002
More area beaches were closed more often this summer because of high
levels of bacterial pollution, and experts can agree on only one thing: They
can't definitively say why.
The phenomenon of record-breaking beach closings and swim-at-your-own
risk advisories has been felt all around Lake Michigan, according to a study
released Monday by the Lake Michigan Federation, a Chicago-based
environmentalist group that has tracked closings since 1996.
The dumping of sewage during storms, sea gull droppings, the runoff from
roads, the increased testing of beach waters and the low level of the lake
have all been cited as possible reasons for the more frequent detection of
bacteria in the water.
In Milwaukee, South Shore was closed 50 times this year, compared with
28 times in 2001. The increased closings were even more pronounced at
other area beaches - Bradford was closed 21 times, compared with eight a
year ago; McKinley was closed 23 times, compared with two last year.
A relatively simple answer may be available for the more frequent closing of
beaches in the North Shore. Officials received a grant to test the waters
daily, compared with twice a week last year, said Jane Peterson, of the
North Shore Health Department.
Biedrzycki said a new testing procedure used at the often-contaminated
South Shore Beach took into account a number of variables, including wind
speed, water temperature and turbidity. Those tests were less expensive and
more accurate, he said. That's prompting him to propose using that
procedure exclusively for South Shore next summer.
Sandra McLellan, a researcher for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's
Great Lakes WATER Institute, has studied the problems at South Shore
and has attributed much of the problem at that beach to the sea gull
droppings. But she said pollution doesn't migrate far, meaning that the
pollution could be just a pocket and not contaminating a broad area.
A bigger surprise she's found has been in the substances that wash into the
rivers and lake through storm sewers, the sewers designed to carry
rainwater. She said she's found storm sewer E. coli counts in the millions of
colonies per 100 milliliters. Beaches are closed when a sample indicates 235
colonies per 100 milliliters.
From 1968 to 1972, for example, more than
64,000 were brought to the United States from
their native Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia.
Since enactment of the Wild Bird Conservation
Act in 1992, however, it has been illegal to
import wild members of the species.
First seen locally at a Blue Island, Illinois, bird
feeder in 1968, a pair of monks nested, hatched
a few offspring, and disappeared in 1970. Three
years later, a compound nest was discovered in
Hinsdale. That same year, 1973, the Hyde Park
colony got its start.
Peregrin Falcon
In the 1980's, programs started in the midwest with the Chicago
Academy of Sciences taking an active role in 1985. A year was spent
designing the project and getting things underway. The Academy
spearheaded the Chicago Peregrine Release (CPR), working in
cooperation with the Illinois Department of Conservation, Illinois
Audubon Society and the Lincoln Park Zoo. Release efforts were
scheduled to take place over a five year period.
In 1986, CPR released five peregrines from the rooftop of University
Hall on the campus of the University of Illinois - Chicago. All the
peregrines released by the Academy were obtained through the Raptor
Center in Minnesota. The Raptor Center is the coordinating institution
for the Peregrine Recovery in the Midwest.
The following year, a pair of peregrines attempted to nest on the
Northern Trust building, laying 1 infertile egg. This was the first
peregrine breeding attempt in the state of Illinois since 1951. Because
these falcons were seen during the winter and stayed in the area, the
1987 release site was moved to Fort Sheridan. In selecting a site to
release, scientists must keep in mind to stay away from both Great
Horned Owls and other adult peregrines. If you tried to release
immature peregrines near a nesting pair, the adult peregrines would see
the young as someone elses and could harm the young birds.
1988 was a pivotal year for CPR, with another new release site (Illinois
Beach State Park in Zion) and the first successful nesting on the
Northern Trust building downtown. Two chicks, Adams & Wacker
fledged and were often seen flying around the Sears Tower. Another
pair of peregrines took up residence on the north side.
Two years were left in the release program, again at Illinois Beach in
1989 and at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn in 1990. Over the five
years (1986-1990), 46 immature peregrines were released by CPR. This
was just a small portion of the approximately 660 peregrines
reintroduced throughout the Midwest from 1982 to 1993.
Nests can be seen from the Sears Tower
Wintering Species
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Oldsquaw
Bufflehead
Ruddy Duck
Common Goldeneye
Red-breasted Merganser
Hooded merganser (Gilson Park, Jan. 2003)
Common goldeneye
These species of interest because they can eat zebra mussles
Greater Scaup
Evanston Christmas Bird Count, Canada Geese
Canadian Geese in Chicago
WHY REPEL GEESE?
They number in the MILLIONS (increasing at 30% a year) and leave:
UNSIGHTLY MESS (at least a pound of droppings per day per goose!)
CONTAMINATION from increased fecal coliform levels in ponds
Ravaged grass and property
MONEY WASTED cleaning, reseeding, resodding and repairing
Why have the geese lost their biological impulse to migrate?
Besides protection from game-hunters, the geese have been
encouraged by the spread of suburban developments, corporate parks
and recreational areas. Canada geese prefer the short-cut,
manicured grass found on golf courses and on the properties of
suburban corporate headquarters over the wild tundra of Canada.
The shorter grasses, besides providing a plentiful source of food,
afford the geese security--they can better monitor predators with
the clearer views. Furthermore, the pools and ponds that normally
accompany these developments are perfect sources of still drinking
water. In a short time, then, the geese have learned that the
environment created by humans was much closer to goose paradise
than they would experience in Canada, and chose to stay.
Common Summering Birds
(Birds of Chicago by Fisher and Johnson)
Ruby-throated hummingbird Great Blue Heron
Barn Swallow
Green Heron
House Wren
American Robin
Red-winged blackbird
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Chicago River Channel
Great Blue Heron
Barn swallow underpasses of
The Chicago River
Green Heron
Chicago River
Bald Eagles at Starved Rock
http://www.illinoisraptorcenter.org/eagle.html
Part of the Kankakee Torrent which scoured out the valley
Birds and West Nile Virus
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Year round Chicago Birds
Wintering Birds
Bird Migration: the Chicago Flyway
West Nile Virus vector
The Migration - West Nile Link
Chicago is Main flyway for
Neotropical Passerines
Administrative sections for
ducks established in 1930s
http://www.npsc.nbs.gov/resource/tools/duckdist/flyways.htm
Ecology and Management of Neotropical Migratory Birds,
Martin and Finch
Western mountains extensive grasslands and prevailing
westerly winds help to maintain the eastern bias to the seasonal
movements of eastern Neotropical migrants during migration.
Spring time winds are still swinging out of the south and east,
bias migration westward at low latitudes and biased eastward at
higher latitudes by prevaling westerlies. Makes many
neotropical migrants more abundant in the fall on
the east coast. In spring the migrants pushed at our latitude
away from us.
Spring
Typical Weather Fronts set up
Winds in Autumn and Spring
Fall
Source: Bird Migration and Wind Turbines: Migration Timing,
Flight Behavior, and Collision Risk, W. J. Richardson
Source: Flight Strategies of
Migrating Hawks, Kerlinger.
To compensate for the fall winds
Heading S and E a hawk would
Swing out to the east to end up
In Mexico with wind
Neotropical Songbird Migration
7,000,000 birds (300 species) move through Chicago
each year!!
Hug Chicago lake shore for two possible reasons
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Wind drift
Few feeding sites inland because of corn and
soybean monoculture
Relatively large number of high quality feeding
spots along the lake.
Require numerous sites for touchdown
Most neotropical landbird migrants fly at night. Nocturnal migration
commences shortly after sunset, peaks prior to 22:00 h and is virtually
complete by midnight or shortly thereafter. Exceptions occur when
migrants must cross water barriers.
150 species of birds have died by colliding with buildings
small songbirds fly at night and use constellations for travel
get pulled in by windows of the big buildings.
General reason given for night time:
lack of predators
But, (my idea so don’t count it too much)
may also be related to ease of flight.
Night time winds (Kerlinger) vertical air currents are reduced
So horizontal flow is more laminar, and less turbulent
Flight strategies of migrating hawks, Paul Kerlinger
Vertical currents are especially favorable for soaring birds
because they can use them to gain altitude and avoid powered
flight.
Strong updrafts are ideal for soaring migration because
they minimize the time a bird must spend climbing. Frequently used
by hawks
Hawks migrate higher than songbirds. Higher winds are less
Turbulent than lower winds because surface friction is less.
Horizontal winds are important because they determine the
ground speed for the migrants and influence their headings and flight
paths over the ground.
Horizontal winds also important. To raptors because they
create updrafts when deflected off hillsides etc.
Lake effect: precipitation and microclimates
Hawk will use the center of the thermal
To lift up for several hundred meters. The
Thermal center may last for 20-30 minutes.
May explain why hawks prefer
To fly along Lake shore instead
Across: need very high thermals to
Get coasting capacity across the lake
Otherwise – need to use flapping
10 km flapping = 30-60 km coasting
48% of falcon species can cross water.
½ of the 48% will not cross bodies of water > 25 km
Crossing attempts depend on
1. Visibility
2. Ability to rise to extreme heights
3. Lateral winds
4. large wingspan
The Most Celebrated Migrations:
Sandhill and Whooping Cranes
.Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory Birds (2000)
$100,000 from USFWS to identify rivers, parks, cemeteries
and types of plantings that feed these migrating birds,
rehabilitating bird habitats like the Magic bush at Montrose
Harbor
http://www.lakemichigan.org/habitat/northerly_island.asp
Lake Michigan Federation presented its recommendations for the
conversion of Meigs Field airport into a nature preserve
to the Chicago Park District (CPD) on February 5, 2001
during a meeting with Superintendent David Doig. The
Federation’s plan comes almost exactly one year to the day
Meigs Field is scheduled to close and represents the first
new ideas for conversion brought forward since 1996.
The Federation’s plan for the peninsula, “A Vision for
Sanctuary Point” is one of the most far-reaching visions for
an urban lakefront in the country and calls for the creation
of what may be the nation’s first lakefront nature museum.
The plan will reintroduce plants, wetlands and prairies
familiar to the ecosystems that existed along the waterfront
before Chicago was settled, as well as small harbors, dune
ridges and woodlands.Sanctuary Point builds on the 1909
Plan of Chicago, which called for the Lake Michigan shore to
be “…a haven–an urban sanctuary–for people and nature.”
A casualty of the O’Hare airport expansion plans
Birds and West Nile Virus
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Year round Chicago Birds
Wintering Birds
Bird Migration: the Chicago Flyway
West Nile Virus vector
The Migration - West Nile Link
West Nile Virus
1937 – virus found in blood of Ugandan woman
member of the Flavivirus family, related to Japanese
encephalitus virus; extensive distribution throughout
Africa, the Middle East, and southern temperate and
tropical Eurasia.
1950 – 40% human population in Egypt’s Nile Delta seropositive
for the virus.
1974 – largest human epidemic in Cape Province, S. Africa,
3,000 clinical cases
Asymptomatic infection or mild febrile disease, sometimes
with a rash, but can cause severe and fatal infection in a
small percentage of patients.
Very rare: cat or dog
squirrels and some other mammals
1999-2002: 65 horses
Oct. 2001 - 2 dead crows, a year earlier than expected
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/surv&control.htm#map1
% of deaths:
Ill (21)> Mich (18)>Ohio (11)>
Louisiana (10)
Total West Nile Cases in U.S.
Human mortality is about 11%
Sept. 2001 - 2 dead crows
2002
- birds, mosquitoes, horses infected 100 of 102 counties
Aug. 2002 - first human death in Illinois
Dec. 2002 - Illinois leads nation 800 human cases, 62 deaths
69% of Illinois deaths Lake collar counties
http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/wnv.htm
Illinois high values:
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Southern wetlands (Lake Calumet)
More urban park space
Cemeteries with flower containers which collect water
Weather
mild winter followed by hot and dry summer - ideal for
breeding mosquitoes
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Chicago Bird Flyway
Birds and West Nile Virus
Conservation Medicine
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Year round Chicago Birds
Wintering Birds
Bird Migration: the Chicago Flyway
West Nile Virus vector
The Migration - West Nile Link
cross listed
seminar with
Stritch School of
Medicine and UIUC
Vet school and
Brookfield Zoo
Outbreaks occur late summer early fall coinciding with large
numbers of migratory birds
Outbreaks in humans living in or near wetlands
Vectors identified are ornithophilic mosquitoes
Migration places physiologic stress on birds which has been
shown to promote immunosuppression and enhanced
replication of West Nile virus in rodents
American Crow density
60% of all human death
Introduction to the US
Normal migration routes
Euroasian
Wigeon counted
Winter 2002
Some birds migrate from Old World to winter in N. A.
Eurasian Wigeon crosses from temperate old world across
atlantic east coast of N.A. to artic
some winter along N.A. – could bring virus across
However, if normal migration happens, why didn’t WNV
make its way over sooner?
Also: strain of virus is Middle East not African where Wigeon
migrates.
Possible Blown Birds
Possible birds which could be blown off course and carry
WNV are:
Gray Heron
Little Egret
Cattle Egret
Black-headed Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Imported Birds
1992 – Wild Bird Conservation Act has reduced numbers
1999 -323 pet birds and 2,447 commercial birds passed
legally through JFK Airport.
Spread of West Nile Virus in US
Old World Pattern suggests
1. Isolated outbreaks, resulting from importation of active
Virus by migratory birds into an area with appropriate
climatic, vector, and amplifying host conditions.
2. Would depend upon persistent amplification in wintering
Avian populations in subtropical areas
This article suggested:
“If this Old World pattern persists, the New York
area is unlikely to be the site of the next human
outbreak because the occurrence of optimal
combinations of infecting host, vector, amplifying
host, and susceptible human population depends on
substantial annual variation based on stochastic
environmental factors (e.g. rainfall and temperature).”
CDC Vol. 6, No. 4, Jul-Aug. 2000 article “Migratory Birds
And the Spread of West Nile Virus in the Western Hemisphere
Known ecology of WNV indicates that the virus is more likely
To persist in the Western Hemisphere if it is translocated by
Avian hosts to southern wintering sites. Old World data
Indicate that ideal over-wintering conditions for West Nile
Virus combine three key factors: a viremic, infectious host
Bird; active, ornithophilic mosquitoes to serve as vectors; and
Large numbers of one or more amplifying avian host species.
This combination of numerous wintering birds and ornithophilic
Mosquitoes (e.g., in southern wetlands or wet agricultural or
Urban areas) could provide amplification and a permanent
Base for the virus from which it could be spread northward
By migrating birds. Thus understanding the major migration
Patterns of potential infecting host species through the New York
City region may hold the key to understanding the future of
The virus in the Hemisphere.
This article suggested the following species as being most
Likely to flock, and to move by wetlands from N.Y. City
Southeastern Route Circum-Gulf Route
• European Starling Hawks
• American Crow
Egrets
• Mallards
Herring Gull
Caribbean Island
Common Tern
Migration pattern of the
Common Tern
Migration pattern of the Herring Gull
60% of all human death
Southeastern migration pattern
Of European Starling
Similar pattern expected for
American CROW
"What we know about is crows", says animal ecologist Pete Marra of the
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, MD. "In the urban
areas where the Culex mosquito is most abundant, crows are the majority of
the avian biomass." : May be more infected because it is a habitat “generalist”
And occupies all habitats.
Raptors are being pulled
in ill by the 1,000s, but
unknown if death
Is 100% like crows or
closer to 0% like
waterfowl.
Captive breeding
programs especially
paranoid about their
populations
Which represent the last
remaining species
(condors)
Possible Transmission routes:
East-West
East-to south during migration
To north and west
Unknown if can infect bird to bird
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=10784
Tribune Feb 5,2003
Only in Chicago were the chickadees hit
1. Kevin McGowan (Cornell) – virus mutation?
2. Other ecological factors
A.F. speculation: see next distribution slide for clues?
Thursday Nov. 7, 2002
http://www.faultline.org/place/2003/01/westnile.html
2000 – downward trend in bird counts of all neotropical passerines –
could be one more problem in addition to loss of habitat