Hey you, bird lover, I know the migrating birds are back and this might be the last you'll see of the Dark-Eyed Junco, but I have some expert guidance for you that I'm pretty sure you're not gonna like:

Yup, we're witnessing today an "unprecedented outbreak" of the H5N1 flu—you hadn't heard of this? Me neither. This highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is so serious that experts recommend depriving your local songbirds of the wonderful seed inside your feeder just in case H5N1 is one of the big ones.

Seriously…

"Unfortunately, we have a lot of gaps in knowledge about the role of songbirds in HPAI outbreaks. We have some data from previous outbreaks around the world, but this outbreak is very different. The 2022 outbreak is unique because of the very high levels of transmission of the currently circulating H5N1 virus strain in wildlife. With minimal viral surveillance being done with songbirds, it is hard to measure the risk of transmission from songbirds to other birds," [Dr. Victoria Hall with the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota] said.

So yeah, we don't know much about it, and our credibility as "experts" has been waning for about 25 months now, but we'd very much appreciate it if you stopped filling up your bird feeders for the safety of us all. Better yet, maybe just put it back in the garage to be safe. Some birds are dumb enough to visit empty bird feeders, and those are the kinds of birds most likely to carry the virus (we think).

So yeah, "expert" lady, no thanks!

I'll keep my cardinals, chickadees, finches, jays, and black birds fed. And if they want to take a soak in my little bird bath the water will be there for 'em.

I love birds.

And I'm not about to deprive them of my delicious bird seed, or deprive myself of the beauty of nature in my back yard.

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