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Disease Carrier
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Disease Carrier

by Howard Cheek

Gallery: Man & FaunaPosted July 12, 2012416 views3 comments
I've observed several cowbirds recently with obvious outward manifestations of disease. Here the bird is obviously dirty from its overnight roost. One can also see an open sore on its foot, and a cyst of some type near the beak/eye. So I looked into brown headed cowbird diseases, and how they might possibly relate to or affect man.
They are known for being very resistant to disease, and are major carriers of West Nile virus and Sarcocystis Neurona (a disease mostly affecting horses). Hard to determine but it appears that sometimes these diseases are fatal for the birds. It turns out they are mostly just carriers though, with only a very small percentage of the birds actually dying..

Comments

3 comments
Comment posted by Carl Battreall on July 16, 2012 at 12:16 AM
Howard,
A finely crafted shot. Thanks for the info, being untrained in the art of bird observation, I would have never noticed the sores and cyst.
Carl
Registered on August 29, 2007, 24 Posts, 222 Comments
Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on July 18, 2012 at 5:14 PM
Congrats on the WP!
Sandy
Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments
Comment posted by Ray Whitt on July 18, 2012 at 5:18 PM
Congratulations on another fine Weekly Pick Howard, excellent!

Ray
Registered on May 27, 2011, 92 Posts, 2619 Comments