Science & Nature
Chicago’s Bird Rescuers Heartbroken by Recent Avian Flu Deaths in Wild Population: ‘It’s Been a Tragic New Year’

Winter is normally a quiet time for Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, a lull between fall and spring migration seasons, when volunteers receive fewer calls for rescues.
Not this year.
“We have a phone that’s ringing all the time with people desperately looking for help,” said Annette Prince, the organization’s director.
In recent weeks, monitors have been fielding 10 to 20 calls per day from people reporting wild birds that seem to be suffering from the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza.
“It’s a hard thing to see, certainly if you care about these birds,” Prince said. “It’s been a bit of a tragic New Year.”
The latest outbreak of bird flu, which started in 2022, has affected approximately 11,000 wild birds nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control. While that’s a tiny fraction of the 130 million detections in poultry flocks, Prince said the situation among wild birds this winter seems more prolonged and wide-ranging than anything she’s witnessed in the past.
“We’re getting calls from a huge range of places — McHenry County, Lake, Kane County, Will County,” she said. “It’s a terrible situation.”
Perhaps most concerning to her are the number of raptors — hawks, owls, bald eagles, etc. — dying of bird flu, which more typically strikes waterfowl such as ducks and geese.
“We’re worried about the predators (like raptors) feeding on the birds that have died from bird flu,” Prince said. “It’s going up the food chain.”
Most wildlife rehabilitation centers have stopped accepting waterfowl, even to perform euthanasia or to dispose of a body, in order to protect against the spread among other avian patients as well as human staff.
Prince appreciates the need for caution, but at the same time, she said, birds are suffering slow, painful deaths. And when the birds do succumb, their carcasses often are left out in the open, potentially increasing the disease’s spread.
“We went to pick up a bird that was reported — a goose that had been laying sick for hours one day — and just before we got there, a coyote killed it,” Prince said. “And when we showed up it was eating the goose. So we’re seeing things where it’s a compounding problem.”
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is removing bird carcasses from its own properties and is advising municipalities on cleanups, spokesperson Jayette Bolinski told WTTW News via email. The department has also asked for people to report die-offs involving five or more birds.
But with just six wildlife biologists across all of northern Illinois, where most mortality events have occurred, IDNR doesn’t have the bandwidth to assist with every individual dying or dead bird, Bolinski said.
“Regarding animals possibly eating dead birds, this is an unfortunate risk, but biologists simply are not able to find every sick and dead bird in a statewide outbreak,” she added.
Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, with a network of some 150 volunteers, supported entirely through individual donations, is attempting to help fill the gap in any way it can, even if just to provide advice.
A recent example was handling a call from a person who had picked up an ailing goose from a grocery story parking lot.
Not only was the bird being bumped by cars — too weak to move out of the way — people were walking up to and petting the uncommonly docile goose. The good Samaritan, recognizing the danger not only to the bird but also to the uninformed humans, put the goose in his car and took it home.
“He couldn’t watch it get harmed, and he clearly knew it wasn’t safe for people,” Prince said. “He was grateful to call us because he said he really didn’t get anyone to give him advice on what he could do and to give him the precautions he could take.”
Those precautions, practiced by all bird collision monitor volunteers, include wearing gloves, masks and even goggles when handling a bird potentially sick with bird flu. And then washing anything that may have come in contact with the bird.
Lead poisoning and rodenticide poisoning may produce symptoms similar to bird flu, Prince said, but at this point, it’s best to assume the presence of bird flu and proceed with all protections in place.
“People have been understanding when we’ve said there’s nothing we can do; they’ve been appreciative of the fact that the scope of the problem is rather large so it might be more than we can help with,” Prince said. “But we can certainly explain what’s going on.”
The situation has taken its toll on volunteers, though, adding to the stress of work that’s already psychologically draining under normal circumstances, Prince added.
The Chicago Bird Collision Monitors' help line received 14,000 calls in 2024, which Prince compared to operating something like a suicide hotline.
“You have people who are desperate, you have animals in desperate situations,” Prince said. “It can be very, very depressing and hard. And every one of those 14,000 calls was not only talking to someone but then getting someone to that bird or getting that bird picked up or transported. … It’s not a job for the faint of heart.”
There have been a handful of victories amid the current crisis, even when those “wins” consist of ushering a sick bird to a “good” death.
In early January, Prince was able to assist in the rescue of a bald eagle that had been reported several times as looking unsteady and uncharacteristically coming down to the ground.
“We sent somebody out each time, and when we got there, it had moved away,” Prince said.
The bird was eventually spotted at Butler Cemetery, near the border of Oak Brook and Hinsdale, falling to the ground and stumbling in a way that led a cemetery employee to describe the bird as being blind.
“We eventually found it walking in circles, unstable, very disoriented,” said Prince. “It had moments where it was just tremoring horribly, its whole body was shaking.”
Because wildlife rehabbers are still accepting eagles, the bird was examined and received an official diagnosis of bird flu. Given the low chance of recovery and high risk of transmission to staff and other animals, the eagle was humanely euthanized.
Prince is frustrated that other birds have not been afforded such a peaceful ending.
“We really would like there to be a way for these birds to be safely, if necessary, euthanized so they’re not suffering while they’re slowly dying — starving, freezing, being attacked, being hurt,” Prince said. “It’s been very heartbreaking.”
If there were a vaccine for humans against bird flu, people would be able to handle infected wildlife, Prince said, but she added there doesn’t seem to be a rush to develop one as long as there’s limited spread among people.
“It’s been a hard thing to watch,” she said. “If we had safe vaccines … we could lower the fear and lower our inability to help. Protections ought to be advanced to allow us to do more to minimize what’s happening here.”
Bolinski of IDNR said this winter’s flare-up already could be waning among wild birds in the greater Chicago region, as it was likely triggered by the movement of waterfowl from Canada and northern states once cold winter weather arrived in late December.
“Partially frozen lakes and ponds in northern Illinois may have further concentrated the birds causing more disease contact,” Bolinski said. “With the recent cold snap, a lot of lakes and ponds should be freezing over and the waterfowl should be pushing down the state.”
Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 | [email protected]