By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The fall migration is in its early stages and wildlife officials are already on the lookout for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Manager Jason Wagner tested 80 teal ducks on Sept. 14 for opening day of duck season and just two tested positive. That's a big improvement from a year ago.
"We tested about 50 of them on opening day of teal season last year and I think over half of them were positive," he said. "That shows a pretty good variance."
HPAI was a big concern for poultry farmers around the Midwest last winter. Several dozen dead snow geese could be spotted at the Bottoms last year, particularly in Pool 1A. Last December, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 21 outbreaks of HPAI in Kansas since the start of the outbreak in 2022.
"Last year, we had a bunch of snow geese die off because of avian influenza," Wagner said. "They're a little bit more susceptible to it, but last year I never noticed any big die-off or numbers of ducks dying. They're more of a carrier for it, it seems like."
Wagner said it is important that poultry farmers change their shoes after walking around Cheyenne Bottoms or Veterans Lake before walking around their own birds. HPAI is often transmitted through the feces of wild birds.