This week, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources recommended … deciding for yourself. While not fully calling for the feeders to come down, the DNR did suggest doing that might “help reduce the potential spread of HPAI.” The full news release can be read at https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/about/newsroom/releases/2022/04/20/temporary-removal-of-bird-feeders.

“If you’re concerned about this virus and want to act from a place of abundant caution, removing your bird feeders for now makes sense, but it isn’t yet a critical step,” said Megan Moriarty, the state wildlife veterinarian with the DNR. “With warmer springtime weather on the way, too, birds will have more natural food sources readily available to them, so chances are many people will be taking down feeders in a few weeks anyway.”

If people choose to continue using their bird feeders, the Michigan DNR recommends:

— Thoroughly clean bird feeders with a diluted bleach solution — and rinse well — once a week. Regularly cleaning helps protect birds against other infections, including salmonella.

A male hooded merganser flaps between dives for fish at Six Mile Lake in Dickinson County. Waterfowl — ducks, geese and swans — seem to be the most susceptible to highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI.

— Clean up birdseed that has fallen below the feeders to discourage large numbers of birds and other wildlife from congregating in a concentrated area.

— Don’t feed wild birds, especially waterfowl, near domestic flocks.

In addition, the agency listed ways to report what appears to be an unusual or unexplained deaths among wild bird populations, by using the DNR’s Eyes in the Field app and choose the “diseased wildlife” reporting option, or by calling the DNR Wildlife Disease Laboratory at 517-336-5030.

Weighing in with a somewhat different — and well explained — view on feeding birds late last week was Laura Erickson, an author with a long list of avian-related credentials and awards who has a long-running public radio program “For the Birds” and blog of the same name.

I’ve featured Erickson in my column in the past so would recommend her views as far more educated than mine. She’s done a couple of lengthy posts on avian influenza and feeding the birds: https://blog.lauraerickson.com/2022/04/to-feed-or-not-to-feed.html and https://blog.lauraerickson.com/2022/04/bird-flu-and-other-hazards-at-feeders.html.

While I don’t want to condense what she wrote too much, Erickson looked at the reports of HPAI this year as tracked by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or APHIS. She wrote on her blog April 15:

“As of April 14 when the (APHIS) page was last updated, the disease has appeared in more than 30 states including every state along the eastern seaboard and extending throughout the Midwest and as far west as Colorado. An astonishing 137 of the 665 birds on the APHIS list were mallards — that’s a full 20 percent. And the vast majority of the others were other species of ducks, geese, and swans, along with a few individuals of other water birds that associate with waterfowl: brown and American white pelicans, great blue herons, ring-billed and herring gulls, and sanderlings [Betsy’s note: a shorebird], all of which were likely exposed via the droppings of sick waterfowl.”

Others, Erickson said, were raptors such as bald eagles and snowy owls or scavenger species like turkey vultures that likely picked up the disease by feeding on sick waterfowl or perhaps domestic poultry. With the other raptors known to have contracted HPAI, the source is less clear.

But so far, she’s seen only one crow linked to avian influenza — reported in her own state of Minnesota — and one blue jay, in Nova Scotia, Canada. Given the number of agencies, including the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, noting the lack of songbirds affected by HPAI, Erickson said she plans to continue feeding this spring but with a few significant modifications. You’ll have to read the full blog post, but it’s worth taking the time.

She, like the Michigan DNR, does highly advise raking up old seed, hulls and other debris under the feeders and cleaning feeders regularly. After learning about the crow, Erickson planned to take down her tray feeder as soon as the redpolls move on. She already avoids tube feeders at this time of year, she said, because they require the bird to press its face and beak against the opening.

But the suet feeders will remain and the hummingbird feeders will go up, as neither are used by ground-feeding species, Erickson wrote.

She did make a point of noting she is going forward with this plan after assessing the risks in her yard — her property in Duluth, Minn., isn’t close to a domestic poultry farm or places where waterfowl are known to congregate that could carry in the virus. People must make the same calculations for themselves.

Finally, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds website posted Wednesday its view on feeding wild birds, writing, “There is currently very low risk of an outbreak among wild songbirds, and no official recommendation to take down feeders unless you also keep domestic poultry, according to the National Wildlife Disease Program.” To read the full statement, go to https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/avian-influenza-outbreak-should-you-take-down-your-bird-feeders/?fbclid=IwAR2MJ2RaKpfdjN8gJu6aaW_N4HDr2-myFE1gmJYQO0ZSQZBDrbSSI-WhTb4.

I’m no expert, so I’m trying to provide information available so readers can decide for themselves. I do agree with one person who emailed me that what has come out so far about avian influenza and feeding the birds can be a little confusing. That’s not surprising when a new contagion or strain of a disease surfaces. It takes some time to determine how it will progress and affect a region. Adjustments in such situations should be accepted, not dismissed because they revise what was recommended before.

But the general tenor of the advice so far seems to be take stock of your situation — the suggestion to restrict feeding where waterfowl have access, for example, seems to make sense — and the potential risk factors, then proceed cautiously if continuing to feed, stepping up cleaning the feeders and surrounding grounds.

Betsy Bloom can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 240, or bbloom@ironmountaindailynews.com.