CHICAGO Hundreds of ducks infected with avian influenza H5N1 bird flu have been found along the shores of Lake Michigan in the Chicago area, prompting warnings from area health officials.

The Chicago Bird Collision Monitors (CBCM), a volunteer conservation project dedicated to the protection of migratory birds, said in a post on its Facebook page Sunday that the bird flu outbreak “is posing a serious threat to the bird life in the Chicago region this winter.”

The outbreak started in December and has now spread from a few reports in the suburbs to hundreds in the city, along Lake Michigan, over the last week. Birds affected include geese, hawks, owls, at least one eagle and ducks.

Annette Prince, CBCM director, tells WGN the conservation group received many calls over this past weekend about sick or dead ducks. After reports began to flock in Friday, from Hyde Park on Chicago’s South Side to Wilmette on the North Shore, the red-breasted merganser seems to be the latest species impacted by the H5N1 bird flu.

The red-breasted merganser is a species of diving duck that typically winters in the Great Lakes region

“We had a massive reporting of particularly one type of bird, which is a red-breasted and common merganser version, which was showing up dead or sick,” Prince said.

“… It just seems a tragedy. … They come here to the Lake Michigan area to winter, and they’re out in big flocks out on the lake. It’s always a wonderful thing to see in Chicago, the habitat that we provide for these birds.”

In its Facebook post Sunday, CBCM said, “These birds are grounded on beaches, yards, parking lots and sidewalks. They present with tremors and little ability to move.”

According to a Sun-Times report, Prince estimated that about 200 to 300 infected red-breasted mergansers were reported to the organization between this past Friday and Sunday. The two largest concentrations, Prince told the Sun-Times, were found Saturday at North Avenue Beach and Oak Street Beach.

CBCM says the reports of sick or dead red-breasted mergansers comes after it received “hundreds of calls” in December, stretching over an eight-county area, about geese, hawks and owls demonstrating bird flu symptoms.

Initially, CBCM says, most cases of bird flu were found in waterfowl, but as dead birds remain on the ground, other species preying on their remains pick up an increased chance of being exposed to the virus.

“Our one concern is that as (the virus) moves, first from geese into hawks, now we see crows and gulls that are going onto these beaches where these sick ducks are being found,” Prince told WGN. “And we worry that it’s going to spread to more and more birds.”

Lincoln Park Zoo, meanwhile, has reported two confirmed bird flu deaths, in a young flamingo named Teal on Jan. 8 and a harbor seal named Slater on Jan. 9. For now, the zoo closed its bird house and said it hasn’t had any other cases.

The virus has also wreaked havoc on poultry, with nearly 150 million chickens, turkeys and other birds affected across the country.

Last month, Kakadoodle farm in Matteson lost its entire flock of 3,000 chickens. The farm’s egg business for now is gone and the farm itself is on a 120-day quarantine.

“You kind of see it happening in big confinement warehouses and you don’t think that it’s gonna happen to like a small guy like me,” farmer Marty Thomas said. “It’s scary for us and it’s also scary for all the other small poultry producers that are out there who kind of thought they were, you know, immune to this whole thing.”

Thomas’ family farm is now relying on online orders of other products and a GoFundMe account to help them weather the economic challenge.

“We’re getting worried that it may be even harder to get new chickens to recover from this because it seems to be happening to so many people right now,” Thomas said.   

According to Prince, the winter weather plays a big role in bird flu’s spread.

“This virus survives very well in cold and freezing temperatures,” she said. “It doesn’t do very well at room temperature and above. So certainly we’re hoping that as spring comes and warmer weather is here, the virus is going to diminish in the wild population, and some of the threats are going to go away.”

The Chicago Department of Public Health says that if you see an ailing or dead bird, don’t go near it especially pets and children. Instead, call Animal Control or the Health Department to report it. Transmission to humans is very rare and has usually been seen only in people who have prolonged exposure, like those working on poultry farms.

Additionally, you can click HERE, or visit the DuPage County Health Department’s page on avian influenza, for more information.