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JoeDeeDeezeNutz t1_j50wr0q wrote

They probably fall into a bush and are eaten by rodents and other birds. You’d probably have to really look for them to find them. Find where they spend most of their time chilling (the sick ones won’t come out to eat with the others) and look for bird bones around there near where they perch.

That would be my guess anyways

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SethSky t1_j50x0ck wrote

When wild birds are affected by a disease, they may die in areas away from human populations, such as in remote wetlands or forests. Additionally, scavengers such as other birds or mammals may quickly consume the dead birds, making them less likely to be seen on streets or in other urban areas. In some cases, birds that are sick may also hide or isolate themselves, making it less likely for them to be seen before they die.

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Paracelsus19 t1_j50xk9y wrote

Where I live they litter the beach because we have a lot of sea birds and many of them wash up due to currents despite living most of their life far from where humans do. Birds cover wide ranges and rarely interact with humans unless it's just to gain some food before taking off again to cover wide territories that often consist of large wild parts humans and predators find it difficult to reach them. Any that do die and fall are usually eaten very fast by scavengers, even on the beach the crabs come and clean up in the night.

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MisterET t1_j50z4v1 wrote

How many dead birds do you see during periods when avian flu isn't running rampant? Personally I see very few. I know all birds must eventually die, but the ratio of live to dead birds I see is probably in the thousands.

It's also probably the same reason you didn't see people keeling over from covid in restaurants and stores. Lots of people were dying, but the people on the verge of death were not out at stores and restaurants following their normal routine, they were either hospitalized or stuck in bed because they were so sick they were literally dying. I would imagine birds that are so sick they would just "drop dead" out of the sky are probably not expending tons of energy flying around for no reason and are huddled down and sheltered somewhere desperately trying to just survive.

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KRA2008 t1_j50zioa wrote

in addition to the reasons other commenters mentioned for why they probably do die but you don’t see them, it seems important to note that wild birds probably are infected far less often than chickens because they aren’t packed beak-to-cloaca in cages with poor ventilation 24 hours per day.

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xea123123 t1_j512xm9 wrote

Perhaps you almost saw a dozen birds die this week, but before death they became sickly and were picked off by predators. Perhaps others died right out in the open and were dragged off by scavengers before you saw them.

A dozen dead battery farmed chickens, on the other hand, would go nowhere and could likely infect many other chickens before being discovered counted and disposed of by a farm worker.

When my bird watcher friend finds dead birds on her hikes, she inspects them, then if they show signs of infection she bags and labels them to send to a research station. She's amazing at spotting a small dead bird in tall grass and I wouldn't have spotted any of the ones she did on our last hike.

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SethSky t1_j52xao5 wrote

Replying to Alternative-Skill167 (#1,411,590)

Yes, animals that consume infected birds can become infected themselves. However, many scavengers, such as vultures and other birds of prey, have a relatively high resistance to avian influenza and may not be affected by the virus or die from it. Additionally, the virus may not survive well in the animal's body, and therefore would not be able to infect others. Many domestic animal like pigs, cats and dogs have a different type of receptors in their respiratory system, which makes it harder for avian flu to infect them, as it is not able to bind to those receptors.

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