After receiving reports of sick and dying birds, DNR recommends Indiana residents cease feeding all birds statewide. Bird feeders, bird baths, and other sources that encourage the congregation of wild birds should be taken down or discontinued. Feeders and baths should be cleaned with 10% bleach solution and stored until more information is available.
Residents who find birds with eye or head swelling, crusty discharge around the eyes, and/or neurological signs (e.g., tremors, stumbling, weakness, lethargy) should submit the sighting to DNR’s sick or dead wildlife reporting system. Biologists are actively tracking reports, and samples have been submitted to the Indiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory. No definitive cause of death has been identified at this time.
- In late May, DNR started receiving reports of sick and dying songbirds from Monroe County with neurological signs, eye swelling, and crusty discharge around the eyes.
- Reports of sick and dying birds now include 53 counties, including: Allen, Bartholomew, Benton, Boone, Brown, Carroll, Cass, Clark, Clinton, Decatur, Delaware, Elkhart, Fayette, Floyd, Gibson, Grant, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Harrison, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Lake, LaPorte, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Monroe, Morgan, Newton, Ohio, Orange, Parke, Porter, Pulaski, Putnam, Randolph, Shelby, Starke, St. Joseph, Tippecanoe, Union, Vanderburgh, Warrick, Washington, Whitley.
- The following species are principally affected: blue jay, American robin, common grackle, starling, northern cardinal, brown-headed cowbird.
- DNR staff have collected samples and submitted them to the Indiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory. Final laboratory diagnostic results are pending – the cause or transmission is currently unknown and still under investigation.
- All birds have tested negative for avian influenza, West Nile virus, and other flaviviruses, Salmonella and Chlamydia (bacterial pathogens), Newcastle disease virus and other paramyxoviruses, herpesviruses and poxviruses, and Trichomonas parasites. Other diagnostic tests are ongoing.
- As the investigation continues, the DNR recommends all Hoosiers remove their birdfeeders, including those for hummingbirds, statewide.
