From ancient times, man has been interested in the mystery of the seasonal migration of birds. We find fragmentary information about this in the works of the ancient Greek philosopher (IV century BC)

From the first naive attempts to explain the “mysterious” disappearance of birds in the fall and their appearance in the spring (for example, they thought that swallows plunge into the mud of swamps or burrow into mud for the winter, and some fly to the moon), man moved on to collecting facts step by step finding out the details and features of this phenomenon.

In 1966, in our country in Kazakhstan (still under the USSR), on the initiative of Professor I.A. Dolgushin began a systematic study of bird migration and organized the first hospital in the Asian part. Over almost 40 years, a large amount of factual material has been collected on bird migration.

The work brought to your attention is my first attempt to observe the arrival of migrating birds on the territory of Tyva, in particular, in the vicinity of school No. 12 and a coal mine.

We received enormous assistance in our work from Sergei Antkazovich Sultanov, our neighbors at the place of residence - summer residents, for which we express our deep gratitude to them, as well as from the scientific supervisor of the study I.N. Sultanova. and Mongush K-K.Sh., specialist in the nature department of the state museum.

So, the surroundings of school No. 12 are private sector buildings on steppe areas. In close proximity to the school, there is active construction of 3-storey houses on the south side and individual buildings on the west. In general, according to observations, adult birds have become significantly less numerous, which is most likely due to the degree of anxiety. Over the past three years, not a single birdhouse has been inhabited by starlings.

The dynamics of migratory and sedentary birds noted by us is as follows: table. 1.2.

During our observations, we saw unusual scenes, for example,

Buzzards (auklets) and kites were spotted in the area of ​​the coal mine as early as March 24th. And during the summer they can be seen at the city cemetery. These smart birds, being predators, were able to very quickly adapt to human food. Appearing at the cemetery, we immediately noticed how quite a lot of birds, up to 30 or more individuals, began to fly in circles closer to people, while emitting drawn-out, high-pitched sounds characteristic of them. Ravens were almost always among the predators. Everyone who had time grabbed pancakes, cookies, sweets from the graves with their paws and flew away or sat down right there on the fence post and began to eat the prey, tearing it off with their beaks. At the same time, very often skirmishes and fights arose between buzzards and crows. With the obvious superiority of predators, the crows did not retreat. You can watch these scenes for quite a long time and the interest does not disappear. But the sad thing is that natural food for predators is becoming less and less. This is due to human activity.

We noticed the second scene at the birdhouse on Sergei Lazo Street, 78. Sparrows and starlings fearlessly conquered their place of residence. There were more than a dozen sparrows and a couple of starlings. For more than 10 minutes there was literally a noise and a fight. In the end, the sparrows relented. But for some reason the starlings didn’t like the house, and they flew away and never appeared again.

We saw other scenes, but that’s a separate conversation.

Having collected information on bird migration, we began the next task - identifying the role of birds in the transmission of parasites and infectious diseases.

To do this, we visited the Aldan Maadyr State Museum, the department of the Federal Supervision Service. We met with the deputy head of the Arapchor department, Marianna Shinin-oolovna. From her we learned true information about the incidence of avian influenza and the disposal by burning of wild waterfowl (great grebe, geese, mergansers) in the Ovyursky kozhuun of the Republic of Tyva and what measures were taken to avoid the widespread spread of avian influenza. An extract from the management report is attached.

We tried to find out about bird parasites at the anti-plague station, but it didn’t work. And then we went to the library named after A.S. Pushkin. From the book “The Secret Paths of the Bringers of Death” by the Czech ornithologist M. Daniel we learned the following.

Already Aristotle (we have already mentioned him) in his work “The History of Animals” drew attention to lice and fleas living on warm-blooded animals, including birds.

Small animals and birds that forage in the forest on the ground or in the bushes become hosts to the larvae of common ticks, which drink their blood.

Ixodes ticks can settle in nests and burrows, tolerating unfavorable conditions well in a torpid state. The peak activity of ticks occurs in the spring in May-June, in the fall in September, so their activity lasts about 5 months. Therefore they, i.e. Mites can travel on the body of birds throughout different continents. And we know that lice and ticks are carriers of many viral diseases - encephalitis, plague, cholera, fever. This means that birds contribute to the spread of both diseases and parasites.

We learned that for the first time in 1899, doctors and entomologists worked hand in hand to organize a scientific study of infections carried by arachnids and insects.

For example, the Anafeles (malarial) mosquito feeds on blood to mature its eggs. In one clutch it lays 200-300 pieces, and the cycle is repeated 2-3 times per season. The pigeon mite has penetrated into modern large cities in temperate latitudes, beginning to invade human homes, causing many problems such as asthma and allergies.

And in conclusion, we want to say that getting to know bird migration is not a very complicated process at first glance, but the tasks we set required meetings with specialists, finding specialized literature, its study and analysis.

The materials presented to your attention are only part of the large volume that we have collected, arousing even greater interest. For the future, we are planning an expedition to study the ecology of birds together with the museum staff.

To identify the role of birds in the transmission of parasites and diseases, we visited the department of the Federal Surveillance Service and the anti-plague station. We met with the deputy head of the Arapchor department, Marianna Shinin-oolovna. From her we learned true information about the incidence of avian influenza and the disposal by burning of wild waterfowl (great grebe, geese, mergansers) in the Ovyursky kozhuun of the Republic of Tyva and what measures were taken to avoid the widespread spread of avian influenza. An extract from the management report is attached. From the department's report, we learned that the beginning of the outbreak of influenza in wild waterfowl on Lake Uvs-Nur, Ovyur kozhuun, is considered to be the period from June 15 to August 31, 2006. 3,749 carcasses of dead birds were disposed of by burning. The place where corpses were burned is marked on the map of the republic.

Based on the results of an epizootological survey, the last case of bird death on Lake Uvs-Nur was registered on August 6, 2006.

Control surveys of the lake in the same groups were carried out from August 16 to 18 and from August 27 to 29, 2006. Based on the results of inspections of Lake Uvs-Nur, it was established that the corpses of dead birds, as well as birds with suspected disease, were not found.

Based on the results of the surveys, Resolution No. 170 of the Head of the Administration of Ovyur Kozhun dated August 29, 2006, “On the abolition of quarantine for bird flu,” was issued.

For 9 months of 2006, specialists from the Department of Veterinary Surveillance monitored the implementation of measures to prevent the spread, as well as vaccination against avian influenza of the veterinary service in the territory of the Republic of Tajikistan.

As of October 1, 2006, vaccination against avian influenza was completed. In total, 19,365 poultry birds were initially vaccinated in the republic, and 15,439 birds were revaccinated. Including in the zone of real threat of spread of the avian influenza virus, 9,904 heads were initially vaccinated, 7,900 heads were revaccinated.

This information was received from Arapchor M.Sh., Deputy Head of the Department of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance in the Republic of Tyva.

The forecast of experts about the threat of widespread spread of bird flu was based on data from random virological surveys of ornithological material and on information about the flight routes of Siberian birds. Thanks to ringing data, it is known that the majority of shorebirds and waterfowl nesting in Tuva come here in the spring from the Caspian, Black Sea regions and the Mediterranean. Ducks that nest further north (in the Tomsk and Tyumen regions) and fly over the Novosibirsk region and neighboring regions during migration seasons winter mainly on the Hindustan Peninsula. But there is evidence of that. that it is not uncommon for “West Siberian” wild ducks and other birds to winter far in the east, including in Southeast Asia, which is unaffected by bird flu.

The almost simultaneous onset of mass bird deaths in different places over a large area suggests that the spread of avian influenza was facilitated by an unusually hot summer, resulting in conditions favorable for the spread of the virus, similar to the climatic conditions of Southeast Asia. A binge of viruses from outside was most likely not necessary for this, since our summer in Tuva was quite cool.

The problem of the role of birds in the preservation, circulation and spread of viruses in nature is not new. It has long been known that the “ordinary” influenza virus circulates and persists in the body of pigs and birds. The influenza virus has several strains that are subject to rapid genetic changes, due to which it sometimes acquires pathogenic and extremely virulent contagious properties (i.e., the ability) to cause severe illness and be easily transmitted from sick to healthy).

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