Dozens of dead crows found near Central Valley Greenway in Burnaby

WARNING: This story contains images of dead crows.

Dozens of dead crows were spotted in Burnaby, B.C., Monday,and locals who reported them to authorities saycrows still alive in the area were also acting strange.

PaulCipywnyklives in Burnaby, and as president of the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers Societyand an avid nature and wildlife photographer, he often goes on long outdoor walks.

"I was spending some time walking along the [Central Valley] Greenway taking pictures ... and I came across a dead crow," he toldOn the Coasthost Gloria Macarenkoon Thursday.

"And I thought,'Well, that's not always that unusual,' but then a few steps down the road, another dead crow. And another dead crow. And another dead crow.

"Pretty soon, it was well over a dozen."

Cipywnyksays not only were there several dead crows, but the other birds in the area were oddly silent and not interacting with each other.

After calling Burnaby's wildlife rescue team to report what he saw, hewas referred to the B.C. wild bird mortality investigation program.

He says he saw other people posting pictures from Burnabyon social media that showed "over two dozen" dead birds.

Similar incident on the East Coast

On Thursday,Cipywnyk said he hadn't heard back from officialssince reporting the crows'deaths.

After doing somedigging online, hefoundsomething similar had happened recently in P.E.I. andwas investigated by the Atlantic Veterinary College.

The College believescorvid orthoreoviruswas to blame, a somewhat newly described virus causingmass mortality among crows congregating in winter roosts.

"I have asked around a little bit and haven't got any confirmation," Cipywnyksaid when asked whether the deaths could be linked to recent outbreaks of avian flu.

"It appears the flu is more for waterfowl and then, of course, transferred to poultry. I didn't find anything on crows being affected by it," he said, adding that he's not an expert on the subject.

In a statement to CBC, the B.C. Ministry of Forests said the situation in Burnaby was reported on Monday, and avian flu has not been ruled out.

The ministry said its labs are focused on monitoring the spread of the flu among domestic and agricultural flocks and tracking transmission around the province.

A spokesperson saidthe Canadian Food Inspection Agency is the lead on all foreign animal diseases and the best source of information for confirmed avian flu cases.

The CFIAtold CBC in an email that dead wild birds are reported to the province and test results would come from B.C.'s animal health lab.

The agency also shared a document that explains how and where to report similar sightings, or suspected cases of avian flu,in B.C.

Cypywnyksays seeing so many dead crows was a little off-putting, and he hopes to eventually learn what caused it.

"It really was disconcerting," he said."It was kind of spooky."