The Enterprise spoke to D.W. Field Park Association President Patrick Quinn about how the bird flu is impacting birdwatching and what people can expect to see this year.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza continues to devastate poultry flocks throughout the United States, as well as cause significant illness in cattle, said David Diemert, MD, professor of medicine and professor of microbiology, immunology, and tropical medicine at George Washington University in Washinton, DC, in an interview.

As H5N1 spreads rapidly, wild birds remain at risk. Here’s what to know about the outbreak and how to keep your feathered visitors safe.

More than 160 million birds have been culled during the bird-flu outbreak that started in 2022. So why is the U.S. not vaccinating chickens?

Avian flu is not just for the birds; cases have been reported in the United States in dairy cows, as well as types of cats, a fox, a seal, and most recently, rats and domestic indoor cats, according to the latest data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

Mass culling is expensive, but alternatives, like vaccinating chickens or luring wild birds away from domestic flocks, would also impose logistical and environmental costs. And they may be more expensive,