Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect new positive test results from terns in Maine, the first confirmed cases of avian flu at seabird colonies on the East Coast of the United States.
Seabird colonies on both sides of the Atlantic have been devastated by avian flu outbreaks in recent weeks. Thousands of Northern Gannets have died at nesting sites in Europe and Canada, their carcasses washing up on the shores of the Maritime Provinces and the British Isles. On St. Kilda, Scotland, avian flu threatens to strain the Great Skua population. In the Netherlands, an entire colony of Sandwich Terns was wiped out.
Photo: A dead Common Tern on Maine’s Stratton Island is a victim of a possible avian influenza outbreak. Photo: Michael Rickershauser
