STATEWIDE — The state is asking you to stop feeding birds.
They’re asking you to do that because the Indiana Dept. of Natural Resources says they are getting reports of many songbirds getting sick and dying. It’s particularly bad in Monroe, Clark, Jefferson, LaGrange, and Lake counties.
“Several species are being affected,” DNR ornithologist Allisyn-Marie Gillet said in a news release. “Including blue jay, American robin, common grackle, Northern cardinal, European starling, and a few others.”
The DNR isn’t saying exactly why not feeding birds will help but experts say birds have been showing “neurological signs of illness as well as eye swelling and crusty discharge.”
The DNR is working with the Indiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center to try and figure out why birds are dying.
