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Ed Yeates ReportingWest Nile is not the only disease birds in the state are being screened for. This month Wildlife Resources will begin monitoring migratory birds for the H5N1 Avian Flu virus.
State Wildlife Resources is already sampling any reported dead birds, like raptors or those in the Corvid family, such as Bluejays or Magpies. They're looking for positive samples of the West Nile virus, but that's not all this season.
If birds from Asia, possibly infected with the H5N1 Avian Flu virus fly into Alaska, they might mix and infect other migratory birds that, in turn, fly from Alaska along what is called the Pacific Flyway, which comes over Utah.
Leslie McFarline with Wildlife Resources says among the government's newly defined three risk categories, the Pacific Flyway is second from the top.
Leslie McFarlane, Utah State Wildlife Resources: "Based on that, some of the western states along the Pacific flyway are thought to get it first."
So now, in addition to West Nile, the state will be sampling specific migratory birds as they come in off the flyway to many areas in the state, just in case one might be carrying the avian virus.
Leslie McFarlane: "We will be doing some live bird banding, taking samples off those birds. And then later on in the fall, when the hunting season starts, we'll be sampling hunter harvested birds."
Migratory birds that might possibly transmit H5N1 include the Tundra Swan, Northern Pintail, Nothern Shoveler, and the Green Winged Teal. Like West Nile, the H5N1 influenza virus will kill some species of birds, but not others.
