Thread by @ran_nathan

1/10 I write to share some updates re the current H5N1 outbreak in Israel from our #movement_ecology perspective, with aspects highly relevant to #epidemiology as well.

But let me start with some background first.

#BirdFlu #AvianFlu #influenza #cranes #H5N1 #Zoonotic #Israel

2/10 Around 12-13 December, the first observations of avian flu in cranes at the Hula Valley arrived, following three H5N1-positive cases elsewhere and in other bird species since mid-October.

3/10 With @SashaPekarsky and Idan Talmon, we then checked the situation with our GPS-tracked cranes, 11 of them were in Israel in the relevant period. We noticed clear movement/behavioral changes in few individuals.

4/10 In the next days, 40, 100 & 600 dead cranes were reported, but the % of dead+sick birds in our GPS sample indicated many thousands of dead birds in the population. Sadly, this has been verified by KKL count of 5K dead cranes, current estimate is >6K.
edition.cnn.com/2021/12/28/mid…

5/10 Realizing the unprecedented extent of this H5N1 epidemic, a nation-wide project was launched aiming to minimize further spread and associated hazards to humans and wildlife. As part of this project, we extended insights from GPS tracking, to other, very different, methods…

6/10 …Over the last days, with @nikki_thie, Idan Talmon and other @MoveEcolLab members, we sampled live (dying) and dead cranes at the Hula to identify H5N1 variant, and for immunology, physiology, microbiome, genetic and ecological analyses. Results TBA. (📹Hadas Kahner, INPA)

7/10 One of 1200 dead birds collected yesterday was our dear 181961, a male crane we tagged in Sep 2018 in Russia. Tracking data show he got sick on 17-Dec and died on 21-Dec. Bred in Oksky State Reserve Russia, wintered in Israel (mostly at the Hula Valley) in all years. RIP.

8/10 Since 2008, with Yuri Markin, Wayne Getz and others, we GPS-tracked >100 cranes for movement ecology studies (e.g. Sasha's PhD study, see papers below, more to come)…
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.111…
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
link.springer.com/article/10.118…

9/10 …But only now we realize how critical is the information from the tags for such unplanned needs (see more below). Wish we had more tracked cranes today to assist and guide the management of this crisis.

10/10 Finally, some good news: two of the tracked cranes that behaved as sick for 1-3 days, seem to recover and now forage in the fields as other live (normal) birds. We hope that this is a sign for recovery of many other cranes.