A presumptive positive case of the deadly avian flu first detected at Año Nuevo State Park last month, which spread to marine mammals for the first time ever in California, has been discovered at another popular Bay Area beach. Biologists recently detected the virus in a dead common murre collected from Kehoe Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore, according to a Tuesday news release from the National Park Service.
Staff at the national seashore about 100 miles north of Año Nuevo State Park began to notice an uptick in dead common murres on Feb. 25, around the same time the first cases were identified in marine mammals in the San Mateo County park. Preliminary test results shared by the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center on March 10 revealed that one of three dead birds recovered from the Marin County beach showed evidence of the virus.
The increase in dead birds was linked to “a broader regional seabird mortality event” sweeping through beaches across the Bay Area, spokesperson Earl Perez-Foust wrote. He noted that while coinciding reports of avian flu in marine mammals have “increased regional interest in the disease,” no signs of illness have been confirmed in the northern elephant seal colony at Point Reyes National Seashore…