Hi Hailey,
Last week visitors started reporting dead blackbirds on Alamo Road near
some kind of a grain elevator. We heard reports of dozens and hundreds,
depending on the reporter. It took us a couple of days to go look for
ourselves but when we did, we found remains of a couple dozen still in the
road. They did not appear to have been scavenged by vultures and the reason
for their sudden death was not apparent. One dead blackbird was found near
the Visitor Center the same day the die-off happened.
Laura Paulson
Santa Ana NWR Volunteer
On Sat, Feb 18, 2017 at 1:59 PM, Laguna Atascosa <laguna.atascosa@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hey everyone,
Being here at the Laguna Atascosa Refuge every day, we see a lot of
different animals and different behavior. Something that has been happening
for several weeks is an occurrence of sick and dying blackbirds- only a
handful, but enough to make it seem unusual. On one day a few weeks ago we
found three dead blackbirds in the same area, untouched by predators. Today
we noticed a cowbird acting in the same strange way: not flying, walking
around the feeding areas for water and food. Several people commented on
his "sick" behavior.
Is anyone else in the area seeing this?
--
Hailey Brown
Intern, Visitor Services
Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge
Los Fresnos, TX
www.fws.gov/refuge/laguna_atascosa
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