A colony of seabirds on Texel has fallen victim to a bird flu outbreak. Thousands of dead sandwich terns have been found scattered across the island.
The seabird with characteristic black crest and yellow tip of the beak is common on the Dutch coast. At the end of May, the first dead terns were found on Texel. Now almost all 3500 breeding pairs in the De Petten nature reserve have died.
“This is quite a disaster,” says Marc Plomp of the Texel Bird Information Centre. “The birds are literally falling over. Thousands of young are lying on the ground.” After research by the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), it has become clear that bird flu is the cause of the massive bird mortality.
Plomp has never experienced such a severe outbreak. “Not for this reason. Bird flu has been around for much longer and mainly reared its head in waterfowl such as geese and ducks, especially in winter. But it is wider than the sandwich terns. It also affects common terns and black-headed gulls and large skuas and gannets abroad.”
There is also a higher mortality rate outside Texel, says the birdwatcher. “We also see it in South Holland, North Holland and Zeeland.” Plomp wants to urge people not to get too close to the dead birds, because of the risk of infection elsewhere. “Don’t touch the birds, because then you can spread the flu. And report a death to the authorities.”
Source: https://www.welingelichtekringen.nl/natuur-en-milieu/3426492/vogelgriep-doodt-bijna-alle-grote-sterns-op-texel-duizenden-jongen-liggen-op-de-grond.html
