A new variant of bird flu has made many victims in the tern colonies in North Holland in recent weeks. Hundreds of beautiful terns are now dying after ducks and geese have been killed.
It is a very sad sight: you will hardly find beautiful terns, more elegant birds in the North Holland polders, which lie dead in the grass. Fallen from the sky like that. Roelf Hovinga now encounters it very often. “There are now hundreds of them. Such a shame, especially now in the breeding season. We even find them dead near their nest. The eggs are now cold and dead. A lost breeding season.”
“It’s really a drama,” he continues. “Especially on Texel, a large tern colony has been wiped out. We hope that the black-headed gulls and common terns are spared.”
dead foxes
It is striking that bird flu makes successive victims among different bird species. This winter and this spring it was mainly geese that were found dead. First the black and white barnacle geese and then gray geese. Dead foxes and mustelids that are said to have died from bird flu have also been found. This means that the virus can pass from birds to mammals.
If you find dead birds and other animals, it’s best to leave them alone. Do not touch anything and warn the National Reporting Center for Animal Diseases via telephone number (045) 54 63 188 if you have encountered more than three dead birds in a certain area.