About 800 dead geese found near East Hampton pond, likely victims of bird flu
Posters warning residents to keep their distance and their pets away from dead birds in the area of Georgica Pond in East Hampton. Hundreds of geese likely died from the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1, also known as the bird flu. Credit: Jim Grimes
Close to 800 dead geese found over the last week at Georgica Pond in East Hampton were most likely infected with avian influenza, state officials said Tuesday.
There are no current plans to test the geese since the virus, also known as bird flu, has already been confirmed in birds across Long Island.
In an email to Newsday, state Department of Environmental Conservation officials said Canada geese and other waterfowl are well adapted to cold weather, and snow and temperature is "unlikely to have a significant effect on their health."
"However, many open water bodies did freeze over this winter season, forcing waterfowl to congregate which has the potential to increase transmission of HPAI," the agency said.
This latest version of the virus, highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1, came into the U.S. from Canada at the end of 2021 and has been detected in birds every season since 2022.
H5N1 is highly contagious, causing severe illness and death in birds ranging from geese and ducks to shorebirds and poultry. It has been detected in mammals as well.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the current public health risk is low, reporting 71 human cases and two deaths since 2024. Most of the cases have been in people who work with cattle and poultry.
Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture lab in Iowa has confirmed the virus in a number of birds picked up in Nassau and Suffolk counties including geese, a bald eagle, a snowy owl, a red-tailed hawk and a raven.
Seeing hundreds of dead geese around Georgica Pond was shocking for local residents and officials.
"We started getting calls from members of the public," said East Hampton Town Trustee Jim Grimes, who spoke with a wildlife biologist from the DEC to get some guidance. "We put the information on our website and then had signage made in English and Spanish and placed them at some strategic road ends and beach access points across town."
With the weather warming up, local officials said they wanted to remove the geese before they decomposed and people returned to walking the dogs in the area.
Grimes, who owns a landscape design and maintenance business, said he removed more than 660 dead geese by last Friday and another 125 on Tuesday.
"We were alerted by some people that some of the birds that were sick last week succumbed over the weekend and we had another wave of dead birds," he said.
Cases of bird flu are expected to wind down with the warmer temperatures as cold temperatures "maintain the viability of the virus," DEC biologist Kevin Hynes, head of the wildlife health section, said during a recent briefing.
Last month he said it appeared that last season was the "heaviest year" for avian influenza with many reports of dead birds and 293 confirmed cases. The agency does not pick up every bird that is reported and send it for a necropsy, especially if it is in an area where HPAI was already detected.
"We won't know for sure until the end of the season," he said.
They are asking the public to report any sightings of dead birds by using the NYSDEC Avian Influenza Reporting Form to assist DEC with data collection.
Lisa joined Newsday as a staff writer in 2019. She previously worked at amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press covering politics, government and general assignment.
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