Hi all,
I got am email from my colleague saying there was a blurb from AKP that came out about changing monitoring protocol due to AI.
I didn't get this message so I'm reaching out here to see what the info on that was. I oversee our county's monitoring program and want to let the volunteers know if there are changes to monitoring protocol.
Thanks!
Sadie D
Here is the info we have receive about monitoring protical.
Nu-Sun Cinema American Kestrel Research Center link to http://www.nu-sun.com/html/kestrel_korner.html
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
As of 7 March 2023, there have now been five reported cases of HPAI in American Kestrels in the United States during the current outbreak, all resulting in kestrel fatalities. One of these was a bird found dead in the wild (in North Dakota in May 2022), while the other four died in human care. (Sadly, this included the two ambassador kestrels at the Teton Raptor Center in Wyoming in December 2022; the other two cases were at facilities in Florida and Minnesota.) There have been only four reported detections in screech-owls (all in birds found deceased in the wild), and no reported detections in other small owls, woodpeckers, or other kestrel box-using species.
In light of these developments (or lack thereof), our recommendations for the upcoming breeding season remain largely unchanged from those we put out last year. While the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) does not consider the virus a threat to human health, caution should be taken to limit potential human exposure and to avoid spreading possibly infectious material from box to box. The following recommendations are developed directly from current CDC guidelines for individuals whose work potentially brings them into contact with wild birds:
Thanks so much for the info.
-SD
Hi Sadie -
Thanks for reaching out, and thanks to Nu-Sun for posting the text. Short version, our recommendations for this year are largely unchanged from what we recommended last year—use PPE when monitoring boxes, and avoid opening boxes unless absolutely necessary (i.e., for banding).
The text Nu-Sun posted was from our most recent newsletter, which can be read in full here. As a registered AKP partner, you should be on our email list, but if you're not for whatever reason, you can sign up at https://kestrel.peregrinefund.org/newsletters. (Also worth checking your spam folder.)
Thanks, and best wishes for a successful 2023 season!
Matthew
AKP Staff