
Experts say bird flu is likely behind dead and sick ducks reportedly found in Wilmette, Winnetka, Chicago
More than 100 birds — primarily red-breasted mergansers — reportedly were found sick or deceased in Wilmette, Evanston and elsewhere along Chicagoland’s lakefront over the weekend.
A social media post from the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors on Sunday, Feb. 2, detailed the findings, reporting that the downed mergansers demonstrated symptoms of avian influenza A(H5N1), or bird flu.
Annette Prince, director of the nonprofit, said the collision monitors’ tip line took dozens of calls on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, of grounded mergansers in lakeside communities across Chicagoland.
Prince said her group received reports of the distressed mergansers all over, including in the Old Orchard parking lot in Skokie and in Gillson Park in Wilmette. JP McNamara, communications lead with the Wilmette Park District, said district staff found at least eight dead ducks on Tuesday, Feb. 4. Additionally, in a social media post (on the platform NextDoor), a user wrote they “came across 7 dead birds, possibly ducks, at Tower Road Beach” in Winnetka on Sunday, Feb. 2.
Prince said mergansers winter in Chicago and are primarily aquatic birds.
“When you see a bird like this up on a beach or someplace out of the water, it is generally an indication it is in distress,” Prince said. ” … It is very heartbreaking. It is hard to see these beautiful birds we appreciate sick and dying.”
Chicago Bird Collision Monitors is dedicated to protecting and supporting migratory birds in the Chicago area. It’s been an unfortunately busy winter for the group, which has received hundreds of reports related to the bird flu. Most of the reports have been about Canadian geese; however, hawks, owls and even eagles have been impacted by the disease.
Prince said reports are also now coming in about sick gulls and crows.
“(The bird flu) is something that is a winter occurrence that has been here before, but certainly not in this wide of a variety of birds and in the large numbers we are finding,” she said.
Because the disease is contagious to other birds, many wildlife centers will not accept birds that demonstrate bird-flu symptoms. Volunteers with the collision monitors will respond to sick birds and, when possible, transport them to the Anderson Humane Wildlife Center, a facility in Elburn that has the capability to quarantine and monitor certain cases and humanely euthanize others.
If a dead bird is found, Prince and company are following the guidance of health officials who advise the public not to handle dead birds or birds that display signs of the bird flu.
Symptoms of the bird flu include a weakness, a lack of balance, tremors, clouded eyes and respiratory problems, according to the bird collision monitors post. Wild birds can also show no signs of the illness, the CDC says.
The human risk of contracting bird flu is very low. The Cook County Public Health Department reports that since 2024 only 67 human cases of the disease have been reported in the United States, primarily in California and nearly all of them involve individuals who have direct exposure to sick cows or poultry in industrial settings.
The CDC describes the current bird flu outbreak in wild birds as “widespread. Since 2022, bird flu has been detected in more than 11,000 wild birds, according to the CDC. Nearly 150 million poultry have been infected and 956 dairy herds.
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Joe Coughlin
Joe Coughlin is a co-founder and the editor in chief of The Record. He leads investigative reporting and reports on anything else needed. Joe has been recognized for his investigative reporting and sports reporting, feature writing and photojournalism. Follow Joe on Twitter @joec2319