For Jeff Travis and his guiding outfit on Colorado’s southeast plains, the hunt for an iconic, winged migrant has been different this season.
“They act totally different,” Travis, owner of Lamar-based Outwest Adventures, said of the snow geese.
Sometimes, he said, the birds will just be standing alone in the field — or trying to stand. He’ll see them sway and shake, their heads tilting back, as if on the verge of collapse. They seem unconcerned by any approaching hunter, Travis says.
“You’ll just be driving along and see a goose standing on the side of the road. You see them in the ditch,” he says. “They’re not right.”
Also unusual to him: the sheer number of juveniles. Whole flocks of juveniles arriving from their northern breeding grounds.
“I don’t know the science to it, but it sure seems like the adults are getting killed off,” Travis says.
Well-known is the killer.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports more than 53 million birds across the U.S. have died from highly pathogenic avian influenza, making 2022 the deadliest year since 2014-15 for the disease simply known as the bird flu.
The toll is more easily tracked among commercial and domestic poultry. The impact on wild birds is less certain; the CDC’s count of 4,000-plus infected is far from reliable, considering reports of snow geese die-offs exceeding 1,000 in individual waterways and reservoirs in the U.S., including in Colorado.
All across North America’s flyways, the geese beloved for their massive, picturesque outliflights have been hit particularly hard. All around southern Canada and the Great Plains, photos and videos have shown horrific scenes: fields, ponds and lakes covered with motionless, white birds.
Recently on Colorado’s northeast plains, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers found more than 1,000 snow geese dead at Jumbo and Prewitt reservoirs, said agency spokesman Travis Duncan. He said approximately 600 deaths were tallied at John Martin Reservoir in the southeast.
This followed what Duncan said were increased reports in late November of sick and dead snow geese from field personnel and hunters — suggesting the flu was still ravaging the species after a deadly spring.
The latest die-offs, Duncan said, “are likely historic highs for Colorado.”
He added: “Keep in mind that the numbers of snow geese that consistently remain in eastern Colorado during the fall and winter have been growing over the past couple of decades.”
While Duncan said death in other waterfowl, such as ducks and other geese, “do not appear to be unusually high,” he recognized “the situation could change over the winter.”
This worries Jeff Colwell, who owns Front Range Guide Service of Windsor. A native of northern Colorado, Colwell said he has seen a “population explosion” of snow geese along the Front Range in recent years.
“It seems to me that’s how this flu is spreading, through the white ones,” Colwell said. “Now they’re feeding together (with other birds), they’re congregating together.”
Beyond that, he said he’s worried about his livelihood. He’s worried about a more widespread repeat of what he and guides saw during snow geese hunts in the spring in Nebraska: large-scale mortality.
“I’m at the point where it’s like, do I continue to run hunts?” Colwell said. “I’ve let all my guides know we need to tell clients to be aware that this is real, and let them make their own decisions from there.”
Clint Roth, another longtime guide in northern Colorado, said he was “not too alarmed about it yet.” He’s noticed fear in others.
“It has freaked some of the guys out to where they’ve stopped hunting,” Roth said.
The disease contracting to people is believed to be extremely rare. One Coloradan has reportedly tested positive for the strain of influenza after contact with infected poultry; the patient recovered after “fatigue for a few days,” according to the public notice from April.
Parks and Wildlife has issued suggestions for hunters to wear personal protective equipment while handling and cleaning game; to thoroughly wash hands and clean knives and other equipment used; to avoid eating, drinking or smoking while handling; and to cook thoroughly to an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
To monitor the disease’s spread, Duncan said Parks and Wildlife would continue “routine surveillance” that relies on reports from the public and officers collecting samples in the field. He advised people to call their local CPW office if they find three or more dead birds in one area within two weeks of if they spot birds showing signs of disease.
Those signs include the birds being too comfortable upon approach, stumbling, shaking and swimming in circles.
“But birds can be infected and not show any signs at all,” noted CPW wildlife manager Todd Schmidt in a news release.
That adds to the concern of Colwell.
“I’m watching thousands of geese fly here today, and they all seem fine,” he said. “But do some of them have it? Maybe.”
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'This is real:' Historic bird flu believed to be killing record number of iconic species in Colorado - Colorado Springs Gazette
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