Cicadas may be connected to bird mortality, ecologist says

It’s nonetheless too quickly to say what has prompted a mass mortality of a number of chicken species within the jap U.S. during the last month or two. But a chicken ecologist with the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center instructed NPR on Monday that the latest emergence of Brood X cicadas could also be concerned.

Reports of huge numbers of lifeless and sick birds first got here to mild in late May in Washington, D.C. The birds that have been alive have been usually blind with crusty eyes and have been disoriented or shaking.

The most reported species have been Blue Jays, Common Grackles, European Starlings, American Robins, in addition to Carolina Wrens, Gray Catbirds, House Sparrows, Northern Cardinals, and Northern Flickers.

The Smithsonian’s Brian Evans instructed NPR’s Ari Shapiro that greater than 600 birds have been dropped at wildlife rehab facilities within the D.C. space. And he famous that quantity is “a poor illustration of the whole variety of birds impacted.”

The die-off has since been discovered as distant as Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio.

Shapiro requested Evans how the cicada emergence could also be concerned.

“What we all know is that the spatial extent, the realm, of the mortality occasion, and the timing of the mortality occasion, largely matches the emergence of the Brood X cicadas,” Evens stated. “But that’s solely correlation. We don’t know straight whether or not it’s causative, and we’re attempting to analyze the potential hyperlinks that may be there.”

He stated it’s attainable {that a} fungus that impacts cicadas may have negatively impacted birds, however that’s solely a “a possible trigger” at this level.

“Pesticides are in fact a possible trigger,” he added. “Cicadas have lived underground proper beneath us for 17 years and will have been accumulating toxins like pesticides or heavy metals that then the birds might be uncovered to in actually excessive concentrations, simply because they’ve switched their food regimen over to cicadas.”

Notably, Evans added that the chicken die-off seems to be in decline because the cicada emergence is wrapping up.

“The birds may take a once-every-17-year hit on their populations,” he stated, “however alternatively, this might be the beginning of one thing else solely.”

The Smithsonian is searching for accounts of sick or lifeless birds within the space, so if you happen to’ve encountered any, report what you’ve seen right here. And when you’ve got seen birds consuming cicadas, researchers need to hear from you.