Publications

Several wild species of birds, including starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), house sparrows (Passer domesticus) and pigeons (Columba livia) gained access to an aviary housing Rothchild's mynahs (Leucospar rothchildii) and over 100 additional birds representing a variety of species. Six of approximately 15 mynahs became infected with avian pox and all of them died. None of the other birds in...

Wildlife diseases are studied because of their adverse impact on human health, agriculture, or wildlife conservation. Viewpoints from these three major areas of concern are not always compatible, yet the ecological nature of disease makes it essential that each is recognized and understood. Within wildlife agencies, resistance or apathy toward controlling wildlife disease arises because...

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

A survey of the sources of Clostridium botulinum type C toxin possibly utilized as food by aquatic birds in an epizootic area of avian botulism in northern Utah showed that living aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates normally found in close association with dead, decomposing birds commonly carried the toxin. Of 461 samples associated with 21 species of avian carcasses, 198 were toxin...

In the microenvironment concept of avian botulism epizootiology, it is hypothesized that invertebrate carcasses may serve both as a substrate for toxin production by Clostridium botulinum type C and as a vehicle for toxin transmission to water birds. We field-tested that hypothesis by attempting to induce botulism in wing-clipped mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) on sewage oxidation...

No abstract available.

The effects of selected environmental pollutants on avian salt gland function were studied in the mallard duck, Anas pZatyrhynchos. DDE and several organophosphates were found to have an inhibitory effect on the ability of these glands to concentrate and secrete salt from the body. DDE significantly reduced secretion rates from the salt glands. More severe effects were observed following...

An outbreak of erysipelas killed an estimated 5,000 aquatic birds on Great Salt Lake (Utah) in late November, 1975. Although several thousand ducks and gulls were using the lake, at least 99 percent of the victims were eared grebes. A hypothetical explanation for the selective mortality is offered.

We start off with light heart, but as we near the marsh, we stop abruptly in shock and horror. The shoreline, where only last evening we saw thousands of sleek, apparently healthy birds, is now littered with their bodies. Most of them are ducks, but here and there we see a Canada goose, a gull, an avocet, a black-necked stilt, a pelican..... This is the way Jensen and Williams (1964)...

Duck plague (UP) is a highly fatal disease of ducks, geese, and swans (family Anatidae), produced by a reticulo-endotheliotrophic virus classified as a member of the Herpesvirus group. The disease was recognized in Europe in 1949. On the American continent, the disease was first diagnosed in the United States in 1967. Very little is known of DP virus ecology, particularly of the...

No abstract available.