Striking numbers of severely weakened and dead Sandwich Terns have been observed on Texel.
More than a hundred dead terns have already been found in Mok Bay, on the southern part of the island. The birds there are probably weakened birds, who want to flee the violence and noise of the colony in the De Petten nature reserve.
“There may be an outbreak of bird flu in the colony near De Petten,” says forester Mariette Smit. “Fortunately, there are no signs of unusual mortality around the colony of the sandwich terns at Wagejot.” And this despite the fact that there is a lot of exchange between all colonies in the Netherlands. They visit each other regularly.
Research
In Scotland and France there are also reports of mortality among sandwich terns. There is as yet no confirmation that bird flu is the cause of the deaths for the dead terns found on Texel. Earlier this week a number of birds were sent in for research. In the course of next week the results will be known about the cause of the death.
Forest ranger Jerome van Abbevé from De Waal explains that with bird flu symptoms can be observed in birds such as: lying dazed, uncontrolled movements, nodding the head or turning in circles with the head crooked. The weakened sandwich terns are mainly hiding very quietly and are severely emaciated. “In order to minimize the risk of infection, it is therefore urgently advised not to touch and pick up dead or sick birds yourself.”