Hi All, I wanted to make people aware of a mysterious neurological disease that has afflicted American Coots, and, by extension, Bald Eagles and other higher-level predators, at artificial lakes in the southeastern U.S. for over 15 years. This disease is know as avian vacuolar myelinopathy (AVM), and can be read about here (and on other web sites):
http://wildlifedisease.nbii.gov/diseasehome.jsp?disease=Avian%20Vacuolar%20Myelinopathy%20%28AVM%29&pagemode=submit I hesitate to mention AVM in the context of the recent dead coots at Stewart Park, because it seems unlikely to me that AVM is involved. I say this because, based on my limited knowledge of AVM, I think it is entirely confined to artificial lakes and reservoirs in the Southeast. In addition, my understanding is that dying coots afflicted by AVM are usually very conspicuous due to their abnormal behavior, and while local observers have mentioned dead coots, nobody has said anything about seeing live coots acting in strange ways (having trouble swimming, flying, or walking). Matt Medler Ithaca -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
