Scientists find more dead birds

Disease baffles researchers as trio of decomposed eagles raise Thurmond Lake's death toll to 11

Web posted Saturday, December 2, 2000

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By Robert Pavey
Staff Writer

Three more dead bald eagles were found Friday at Thurmond Lake by scientists investigating an apparent outbreak of a mysterious condition that destroys the birds' brains from the inside.

Researchers from as far away as Wisconsin and Mississippi met Friday in Thomson to discuss efforts to learn more about Avian Vacuolar Myelinopathy, or AVM - now suspected in 11 eagle deaths locally.

Eight bald eagles were found in the past two weeks along the 70,000-acre reservoir, and three more were discovered Friday, said Vic VanSant, a Georgia Department of Natural Resources biologist.

``All three were decomposed,'' he said. ``They had been dead for a while.'' The eagles were found in the Bussey Point Wilderness Area near a known nest site.

Scientists now intend to search all known nest sites along the Corps of Engineers reservoir to determine whether more eagles have been killed, Mr. VanSant said.

``This whole thing is a big mystery,'' he said. ``There are lots of clues, but nobody seems to know exactly what happens.''

AVM first was diagnosed in eagles at DeGray Lake, Ark., in 1995. Fifty-eight birds have died on that lake alone.

Although scientists remain unsure of the cause, the suspicion is that small waterfowl called coots ingest some sort of algae or aquatic plant that produces a toxin fatal to eagles, which prey on coots.

``Maybe it's something unique about eagles,'' Mr. VanSant said. ``They're somehow different from, say, red-tailed hawks, because we aren't finding hawks dead everywhere.''

Participating in Friday's discussions were representatives from the University of Georgia's Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study Center; the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis.; the Corps of Engineers' Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg, Miss.; and South Carolina.

The symptoms of AVM include wobbly, erratic behavior and an inability to fly. The fatal malady causes microscopic lesions that affect and destroy the bird's brain. Ducks and geese also have been found with AVM.

Thurmond Lake was the first location AVM was identified outside of Arkansas. Two eagles perished at the 70,000-acre lake in 1998, and a third - found at Savannah River Site - also was diagnosed with AVM.

Anyone finding dead coots or eagles - or who observes eagles acting suspiciously - should notify David Brady, the Army Corps of Engineers biologist, at (800) 944-7207; or Mr. VanSant at (706) 595-4222.

Reach Robert Pavey at (706) 868-1222, Ext. 119.

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