Summer update...

Hi folks! Here is our first research update! Over 50 dead Common Loons have been found in the field and retrieved this summer from states across the Northeast (including bird shown in picture). We have necropsied only a fraction of these birds so far but have already found evidence of malaria parasite infection, disease, and death in breeding adults. By microscopy of tissues we have found parasites proliferating in blood vessels throughout the body leading to anemia, general poor oxygenation, and altered blood flow (arrow in picture points to malaria parasites in a blood vessel in heart tissue). Our necropsy, microscopy, and lab work has just begun so please stay tuned for more updates. Thank you again for your support of our loon malaria research and for making this project a reality!

 

Left: Dead Common Loon found in NH in late July, 2021. Right: arrow points to malaria parasites lining wall of blood vessel of heart of breeding female Common Loon from Squam Lake, NH (August 2021)