Publications

In November 1984, the NWHL was assigned the task to: "Prepare a report of bald eagle mortality from lead poisoning and other causes. Determine whether primary causes of lead poisoning are due to ingestion of lead shot pellets. Prepare an appropriate map showing eagle concentrations and location of death. Make management recommendations." This report is the response to that task. Report...

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann)) shot within 20 km of the zinc smelters in the Palmerton, Pennsylvania area contained extremely high renal concentrations of cadmium (372 ppm dry weight (dw)) and zinc (600 ppm dw). The deer with the highest renal zinc concentration was shot 4 km from the smelters and had joint lesions similar to those seen in zinc-poisoned horses...

Wildlife health concerns associated with disposal of sewage effluent in wetlands are of three primary types: (1) introduction of pathogens, (2) introduction of pollutants that adversely impact on host body defense mechanisms, and (3) changes in the physical and chemical properties of wetlands that favor the development and maintenance of disease problems. Unlike the situation with human...

1. One-day old American kestrel (Faico sparverius) nestlings were orally dosed daily with 5 μl/g of corn oil (controls), 25, 125 or 625 mg/kg of metallic lead in corn oil for 10 days. 2. Forty per cent of the nestlings receiving 625 mg/kg of lead died after 6 days and growth rates were significantly depressed in the two highest lead dosed groups. At 10 days hematocrit values were...

In 1978–81, 293 bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) from 32 states were necropsied and analyzed for organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), and lead residues. DDE was found in all carcasses; PCB, DDD, trans-nonachlor, dieldrin and oxychlordane were next in order of percent frequency of detection. The median levels of DDE and PCB have declined when compared with...

Waterfowl mortality from avian cholera during July 1979-May 1980 was widespread in the Central and Mississippi flyways, occurring in a wide variety of species and locations from nesting grounds of snow geese (Chen caerulescens) on Hudson Bay south to waterfowl wintering areas on the Texas coast and playa lakes region. Mortality estimates at the various sites ranged from several birds to...

Two wild and two captive sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) were diagnosed by National Wildlife Health Laboratory personnel as having died from lead toxicity. Ingestion of lead fishing weights by the wild cranes and of unspent .22 caliber shell cartridges by the captive cranes were responsible for these deaths. One crane force-fed lead pellets showed an increase of blood lead levels from...

Three species of trichostrongylid nematodes were removed from the gizzards of 25 lesser snow geese, Chen caerulescens caerulescens, collected at Winisk, Ont. A 100% prevalence of infection was noted in the sampled population with each bird harboring two or more of the following species: Epomidiostomum crami (prevalence, 92%; mean intensity, 18.7 ± 13.3), Amidostomum anseris (prevalence...

No abstract available.

The first report of avian cholera in North America occurred in northwestern Texas in winter 1944 (Quortrup et al. 1946). In 1975, mortality from avian cholera occurred for the first time in waterfowl in the Rainwater Basin of Nebraska when an estimated 25,000 birds died (Zinkl et al. 1977). Avian cholera has continued to cause mortality in wild birds in specific areas of the Basin each...

No abstract available.

A survey of migratory waterfowl for duck plague (DP) virus was conducted in the Mississippi and Central flyways during 1982 and in the Atlantic and Pacific flyways during 1983. Cloacal and pharyngeal swabs were collected from 3,169 migratory waterfowl in these four flyways, principally mallards (Anas platyrhynchos L.), black ducks (Anas rubripes Brewster), and pintails (Anas acuta L). In...