birding-aus

Botulism poisoning in waterfowl

To: 'Carl Clifford' <>, 'Chris Watson' <>
Subject: Botulism poisoning in waterfowl
From: Peter Shute <>
Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2012 15:24:25 +1100
Is it possible that the grebes are being poisoned too, but aren't dying in such 
visible places?

Peter Shute

> -----Original Message-----
> From:  
>  On Behalf Of 
> Carl Clifford
> Sent: Wednesday, 8 February 2012 1:52 PM
> To: Chris Watson
> Cc: 
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Botulism poisoning in waterfowl
> 
> Chris,
> 
> Though Grebes are divers, they feed on crustaceans, fish etc 
> and tend  
> not to go poking around in the mud at the bottom of the 
> ponds. Diving  
> ducks tend to ferret around in the bottom mud and would be 
> more likely  
> to get into the anaerobic layers.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Carl Clifford
> 
> 
> On 08/02/2012, at 1:28 PM, Chris Watson wrote:
> 
> G'day all,
> 
> A bit of a technical question. I've been monitoring the 
> mortality rate  
> of a few species at Alice Springs Sewage Ponds after a spike in  
> botulism poisoning last year.
> 
> I'm not a biologist, but what I've learnt is that "c" type 
> Clostridium  
> botulinum bacteria reside and breed in anaerobic muds at the 
> bottom of  
> the ponds. When we get the warmer weather the amount of bacteria  
> increases and bottom feeding birds (swans, diving ducks) can stir it  
> up and ingest it, resulting in the increased mortality that 
> we witness.
> 
> At the moment we are seeing a greater number of dead and moribund  
> birds around the ponds (mostly Black Swan, Hardhead, and the  
> occasional Grey Teal).
> 
> My question is this; why are the aforementioned species affected but  
> the grebes (Australasian and Hoary-headed) which are accomplished  
> divers have not been observed to be affected to this point. In 18  
> months, I have not found a single grebe carcass or seen any grebes  
> that seem effected by botulinum toxicity. I am at the ponds at least  
> twice a week so have a very good idea of the changes in populations  
> and movements there. We have a fairly stable population of 
> between 80  
> and 120 grebes, and I'm surprised that they never seem to be 
> affected  
> by this toxin which always seems to take out quite a few swans and  
> ducks (and the odd stilt and lapwing) each summer. I can only 
> imagine  
> that there is some difference in their feeding technique or the  
> physiology of their digestive tract which keeps them safe from it.
> 
> Can anyone enlighten me?
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Chris Watson
> Alice Springs
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