The Bird Flu Blazes On, Amping Up Concerns for Wildlife and Human Health : Facing an outbreak that’s unusually deadly for wild birds and spreading to more mammals, scientists worry about when, or if, it will end.

[...] While determining the flu’s long-term effects will take more time and surveys, researchers are especially worried about its impact on vulnerable avian populations, including some colonial waterbirds, long-lived seabirds, and birds of prey. In June, for example, almost 1,500 Caspian Terns died on Lake Michigan islands—about 60 percent of Wisconsin’s population, including many breeding adults. Such losses, says Timm Harder, a veterinary virologist at Germany’s National Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza, could leave “a deep scar” on future generations. [...]