[Mnbird] RHWP

[Alan Stankevitz]

Your points are well taken and I personally have not taken down my feeders but I am keeping a very keen eye on the health of our resident birds. So far, all is good. With that stated however, Laura Erickson posted on her blog a few weeks ago about the avian flu and the frustration of birds NOT being tested. You can easily say that there’s not been a case of a songbird testing positive because as far as I know, no one has been testing them. It’s a big unknown.

Here’s Laura’s post. Well worth the read:
https://blog.lauraerickson.com/2022/04/to-feed-or-not-to-feed.html <https://blog.lauraerickson.com/2022/04/to-feed-or-not-to-feed.html>

Alan Stankevitz
Houston Co. MN



> On May 16, 2022, at 9:06 AM, Trisha * via Mnbird <mnbird at lists.mnbird.net> wrote:
> 
> Here’s my two cents:
> 
> The only professional body that has made that recommendation is the Raptor Center, and their main concern is raptors. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and the DNR, all of which put resources towards all species of birds, have not made similar statements. 
> I’m surprised, and maybe I shouldn’t be, that the Raptor Center made a statement and all of the media stations went with it without exploring what others professionals had to say….and naturally, the public followed suit without doing any homework.
> 
> Granted, there’s still more to be learned about this strain. However I don’t think there’s been a case of a songbird testing positive.
> 
> If someone lives near water and has fowl visiting their yard, or if they have backyard chickens, they should probably not be feeding seed or suet which can attract fowl and cause them to congregate, encouraging the spread of this disease. 
> 
> Since corvids carry this disease, platform feeders and trays should likely also not be used. Removing my platforms and trays has greatly reduced the number of blue jays in my yard.  I now have a single pair of jays that will not leave, but they are not visiting my feeders any longer.
> 
> ~Trisha
> 

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