# Sleeping Bear Dunes - what's killing lake birds



## sean

sadocf1 said:


> How about classifying Michigans w/tail deer as the most destructive wildlife we have in our state. As an added incentive , there is lots more meat on a deer than on a dove. MDNR tells us 80% of the deer in the state are found on agricultural areas, fed by the farmers. Farmers supply the bait for us hunters. Car deer accidents,personal injuries, loss of life, the insurance angle, TB. LETS HUNT DEER, NOT DOVES



I just love the " there's not alot of meat on a dove" argument. Thats the most idiotic argument there is, on the dove hunting vote. Since when did people care how much meat/food you get off something. If we were to go by your logic we wouldn't eat shrimp, clams, frog legs, quail, bluegills, should I go on??????:rant:


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## Vicious Fishous

My wife and I walked a section of the Sleeping Bear Lakeshore two weeks ago and saw two dead loons and a tern , and on a different beach a swan(which doesn't eat fish, but could have gotten ill???) also saw a flock of 12-15 cormorants (not dead) scoping out the beach. Did see 4 live loons. I'm glad I know why there dead, cause now that I think about it we did see alot of dead birds last year around October. Hope it doesn't happen again.
Wishin' I was Fishin'
PETE


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## sadocf1

2800 gulls, cormorants, grebes and mergansers minus 150 loons leaves 2650 gulls, cormorants, grebes and mergansers. All fish eaters that have a real feast when the DNR Fishery personell dump their plantings of trout and salmon in the Great Lakes. It has been suggested that perhaps if these plantings were done after dark more of the fingerlings would have migrated to deeper water, but this would mean overtime and per diem expense which the DNR could not afford.
This Thread demonstrates the great concern shown by many conservation minded individuals for these 2650 fish eaters, and conversely the concern of those individuals who feel there should be an open season on Michigans official Bird of Peace


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## sadocf1

2800 gulls, cormorants, grebes and mergansers minus 150 loons leaves 2650 gulls, cormorants, grebes and mergansers. All fish eaters that have a real feast when the DNR Fishery personell dump their plantings of trout and salmon in the Great Lakes. It has been suggested that perhaps if these plantings were done after dark more of the fingerlings would have migrated to deeper water, but this would mean overtime and per diem expense which the DNR could not afford.
This Thread demonstrates the great concern shown by many conservation minded individuals for these 2650 fish eaters, and conversely the concern of those individuals who feel there should be an open season on Michigans official Bird of Peace 
Mourning doves dont eat fish !


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## bombcast

doves are worthless, unless marinated and skwered over an open fire. Get a life pindick.


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## sean

sadocf1 said:


> 2800 gulls, cormorants, grebes and mergansers minus 150 loons leaves 2650 gulls, cormorants, grebes and mergansers. All fish eaters that have a real feast when the DNR Fishery personell dump their plantings of trout and salmon in the Great Lakes. It has been suggested that perhaps if these plantings were done after dark more of the fingerlings would have migrated to deeper water, but this would mean overtime and per diem expense which the DNR could not afford.
> This Thread demonstrates the great concern shown by many conservation minded individuals for these 2650 fish eaters, and conversely the concern of those individuals who feel there should be an open season on Michigans official Bird of Peace
> Mourning doves dont eat fish !


Again another ignorant statement by an obviously ignorant person, the turtle dove is a bird of peace not the "Mourning" dove. Unless of course your talking about the "bird of peace" in Wisconsin then yes it would be. You know I would have 100 times more respect for you if you just said you didn't want dove hunting because you liked looking at them at your bird feeder:lol: not using the same lame arguments that peta used.


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## sadocf1

A resolution recognizing the mourning dove, Zenaida Macroura, as the Michigan Bird of Peace
http://www.save the doves.org/news/news_110503c.html


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## sadocf1

http://www.savethedoves.org/news/news_110503c.html
Just as the Robin is Michigan's Official State Bird, the Mourning Dove is Michigan's Official Bird of Peace


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## sadocf1

Big Black headlines in the Alpena News- 120,000 lake trout released in attempt to stock population. US Fish and Wildlife biologists release a lever, sending a rush of juvenile lake trout plunging into 220 feet of cold water."Most fish head STRAIGHT FOR THE BOTTOM" ?? Fish brought up from 220 feet suffer air bladder damage unless subjected to gradual depth change. (deep sea divers get the "bends") Can juvenile lake trout "head straight for the bottom" ?? Or must they make gradual depth changes ?
Our DNR (2006) ESTIMATED THE CORMORANT POPULATION IN THE LAKE HURON ALPENA AREA AT 8000 ADULT BIRDS, EACH CAPABLE OF EATING 1 POUND OF FISH A DAY- IF THESE LAKE TROUT FINGERLINGS RUN 5 TO THE POUND, 120,000 WEIGH 24,000 POUNDS. CORMORANTS ARE CAPABLE OF DIVING TO GREAT DEPTHS IN SEARCH OF FOOD. 
IF THE CORMORANTS EAT 8000 POUNDS A DAY THE 120,000 LAKE TROUT COULD BE GONE IN 3 DAYS.
US Fish and Wildlife has a goal of 55-57 % survival for lake trout in Lake Huron. Fish farming is like all farming. We dont always reap what we sow


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## Hamilton Reef

Officials to hold meeting on bird die-offs

TRAVERSE CITY -- A second year of bird and fish die-offs along northern Michigan shorelines prompted environmentalists to schedule a gathering to address the growing problem.

Numerous state and federal biologists, conservationists, environmentalists, researchers and educators plan to meet in February to standardize data collection methods and discuss ways to minimize the impact of Type E botulism, a naturally occurring toxin they believe kills fish and birds, primarily waterfowl.

http://www.record-eagle.com/local/local_story_355093048.html

From another thread:
Type E Botulism in the Great Lakes
Conference Overview
http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/botul...9-Overview.pdf


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## Hamilton Reef

Botulism is killing Great Lakes birds
Some 8,000 died in 2007, including 2,000 loons

Kaplan and other researchers say as many as 8,000 native and migrating waterfowl -- including 2,000 loons, cherished for their haunting, sweet calls -- may have died of toxic type E botulism along the lake's northeast shore last fall, the second die-off in two years on Lake Michigan from the neurotoxin.

The creatures likely ate botulism-infected gobies, a bottom-feeder susceptible to E botulism. Scientists say they think the botulism, which is native to the Great Lakes, comes to life in rotting cladophora algae and is absorbed by invasive zebra and quagga mussels that have taken over the lake bottom. Gobies eat the toxic mussels, and the birds eat the gobies.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080204/NEWS05/802040334


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## Hamilton Reef

Researchers prepare for more bird deaths

Concerns about the trend prompted researchers to plan a session Wednesday in Roscommon to discuss the problem and prepare for the next expected outbreaks this summer and fall. Officials will share information from last year and adopt uniform monitoring guidelines, said Mark Breederland, from Michigan Sea Grant in Traverse City, who helped organize the agency meeting.

The public can learn more at future informational sessions in affected lakeshore communities, the first at 7 p.m. Feb 12 at the Inland Seas Education Center in Suttons Bay. Affiliated agencies likely will recruit volunteers to walk the beaches to both count and collect dead birds, officials said.

http://www.record-eagle.com/local/local_story_036095010.html


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## Hamilton Reef

Sick loons may be out-of-state visitors

http://www.record-eagle.com/local/local_story_120095811.html

04/29/08 BY SHERI McWHIRTER [email protected]

TRAVERSE CITY -- Botulism poisoning killed an estimated 7,500 native and migrating birds -- loons, ducks, gulls, cormorants and endangered piping plovers -- last year along the shorelines between Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore, the Straits of Mackinac and along the southern coast of the Upper Peninsula.

But among the scores of loons killed by botulism, it appears many originated from locales other than Michigan.

Researchers at Seney National Wildlife Refuge in the Upper Peninsula said only one banded loon did not return this spring to nesting grounds there. It was claimed by a botulism outbreak that's plagued northern Lake Michigan in recent years.

Experts point to the spread of invasive species in the Great Lakes as the culprit. But loon deaths may reveal some clues to migration and other patterns. 

"This is just one site and we have a great interest in looking at where these birds came from," said Damon McCormick, biologist with Common Coast Research and Conservation.

One inference is that other loons killed by botulism had migrated from Canada or western parts of the Upper Peninsula when they became tainted with botulism toxins, he said.

An avian botulism task force among state wildlife officials, private researchers and a laundry list of nonprofit conservation groups will monitor this year's expected die-offs in early summer and autumn. Protocol for the count and collection of dead birds should be finalized by Memorial Day, said Tom Cooley, wildlife biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Meanwhile, dead birds found on area beaches this spring should be buried or taken to a landfill, officials said.

Beach cleaners should scoop up bird carcasses with a shovel and bury them on their own property, or collect them with rubber gloves or a garbage bag, Cooley said.

The bird deaths are likely a chain reaction from invasive species, including zebra and quagga mussels and round gobies, experts say.

Mussels filter the water, allowing more light to grow more cladophora algae, which hikes chances for botulism outbreaks. Birds can be poisoned and die by eating infected fish and mussels, as well as scavenging carcasses and maggots on the beach.


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## EMPIRE

Several sturgeon have also been found dead on the beach, assumed from Botulism as well. I know of two in the Leland area...one of which was pictured in the Leelanau Enterprise. Meanwhile, the shipping industry continues to fight the no ballast rules in court.


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## Hamilton Reef

Lack of die-offs baffles scientists

http://www.record-eagle.com/local/local_story_321094229.html

11/16/08 BY SHERI MCWHIRTER [email protected]

TRAVERSE CITY -- A year ago dead birds littered area Lake Michigan beaches, but it's been much different so far this year to the pleasant surprise of researchers.

"We were expecting to have lots and lots of dead birds to deal with, so it's good news that we haven't seen that," said Damon McCormick, a biologist with Common Coast Research and Conservation.

McCormick found seven dead common loons and a small group of dead red-necked grebes along the southern coast of the Upper Peninsula about six or seven weeks ago, but little since then, he said.

It's the same in other areas.

"By this time last year we had lots and lots of kills," said Mark Breederland from Michigan Sea Grant.

Breederland spent parts of last week walking about 10 miles of shoreline in Emmet, Charlevoix and Antrim counties, all sites where large numbers of birds died from botulism poisoning last year. He found just one carcass in Wilderness State Park near the Straits of Mackinac and another the week before in northern Antrim County, he said.

"Our phone lines would be ringing if we had big die-offs and we're just not seeing it," Breederland said. 

This year so far brought three small confirmed outbreaks, in Mason County in June and July, in Emmet County in July and in Oceana County in August, said Tom Cooley, wildlife biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. 

Botulism poisoning killed an estimated 7,500 native and migrating birds -- loons, ducks, gulls, cormorants and endangered piping plovers -- last year along shorelines between Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, the Straits of Mackinac and along the southern coast of the Upper Peninsula. An outbreak of the disease was blamed for the deaths of about 2,600 birds in fall 2006 near the dunes.

Area environmental groups organized training sessions for "beach rangers" toward the end of summer, to prepare volunteers to help assess the extent of bird die-offs and learn proper disposal methods for dead birds. They were ready for another ecological tragedy.

"I think it might still be too early. The migration is still under way," said Gary Rentrop of Cross Village, a beach ranger who inspects two miles of beach about three times every week.

Rentrop found just a couple of dead birds in an area where 80 carcasses were found last year, he said.

Experts believed the bird deaths likely were a chain reaction from invasive species, including zebra and quagga mussels and round gobies. 

The theory was that mussels filter the water, allowing more light to grow more cladophora algae, which hikes chances for botulism outbreaks. Birds could be poisoned and die by eating infected fish and mussels, as well as scavenging carcasses and maggots on the beach.

But with the lake still full of invasive mussels and gobies, that mechanism theory for avian botulism poisoning may need to change, McCormick said.

"The question for our neck of the woods is: was last year an anomaly or is this year a reprieve before something more permanent and extensive?" he said.

Breederland said changed variables this year include higher water levels and a slower rise in summer water temperatures in Lake Michigan.

"As is the case with nature, things change from year to year. The ecosystem is changing with invasive species and climate change, which is why continued research is critical," said Peg Comfort, coordinator of the local botulism network.


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## Beavervet

I do a lot of late season boating between Harbor Springs, Charlevoix and Beaver Island. Last season I saw dozens of Loons on every trip that were obviously diseased, they were unable to fly, only able to skirt away from the boat 50 feet or so. This year in all the trips I made I only saw 2 loons out on the water in the same predicament. It is amazing how nature ebbs and flows and disease patterns rise and fall with varying factors of exposure, natural resistance and other unknown factors that affect epidemics such as this.


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