{"id":43091,"date":"2016-10-27T06:07:45","date_gmt":"2016-10-27T12:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=43091"},"modified":"2016-10-27T07:08:09","modified_gmt":"2016-10-27T13:08:09","slug":"the-cause-of-the-deformed-beaks-in-birds-ive-photographed-may-finally-be-known","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/27\/the-cause-of-the-deformed-beaks-in-birds-ive-photographed-may-finally-be-known\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cause Of The Deformed Beaks In Birds I’ve Photographed May Finally Be Known"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the years I’ve documented a variety of birds with severely deformed beaks, including the two examples below.<\/p>\n

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\"ring-necked<\/p>\n

I photographed this adult male Ring-necked Pheasant at Farmington Bay WMA\u00a0in August of 2014. Its maxilla is grossly deformed into an abnormally long twisting curve that begins to resemble a corkscrew shape.<\/p>\n

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\"ring-necked<\/p>\n

Another\u00a0photo of the same bird.<\/p>\n

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\"red-tailed-hawk-3311<\/p>\n

This adult Red-tailed Hawk hung around the same area near Grantsville, Utah for several weeks in the fall and early winter of 2011. Both the mandible and the maxilla are extremely long and deformed. Despite its handicap I watched as this bird caught and consumed several voles so it was still able to hunt and eat but it had to be at a huge disadvantage.<\/p>\n

I’ve also seen and\/or photographed several other species with abnormal bills, including Red-winged Blackbirds and Sage Thrashers. The\u00a0disorder is known to occur in at least 24 species of North American birds.<\/p>\n

In the past I’ve published blog posts about these unusual birds and made some inquiries and at the time very little was known about the condition and its cause was unknown\u00a0but several scientists and institutions were investigating. Since many of the\u00a0first birds seen with beaks like these were Red-tailed Hawks the condition was tentatively called “long-billed hawk syndrome” even though species other than raptors were involved.<\/p>\n

But now\u00a0we may\u00a0know the cause of the disease, now called “avian keratin disorder”.\u00a0Earlier this week it was reported that strong evidence\u00a0suggests the culprit is a previously unknown virus – Poecivirus<\/em>. Using advanced DNA and RNA sequencing technologies the virus was found in every diseased bird that was tested. I won’t bore readers with more details\u00a0but an article on the latest findings can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Finding a cause is far from finding a prevention or a cure but it’s a step in the right direction and that gives me at least\u00a0some small amount of comfort and hope.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

PS – Yesterday I sent links to my photos of the Red-tailed Hawk and Ring-necked Pheasant with deformed bills to Dr. Russell Norvell, Avian Conservation Program Coordinator at Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and asked him if those two birds look like they’re affected by avian keratin disorder. I include his response below:<\/p>\n