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Bear River Migratory Research Paper

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The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge is an interesting place to visit. In the early 1900s, over 3 million birds died of alkali poisoning in the Bear River area. The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge was originally founded to prevent avian botulism and other diseases. Over 60 species of birds breed and raise their babies at the Bird Refuge, and approximately 250 species migrate through there.
Alkali poisoning or avian botulism is caused when birds eat a toxin that is created by a bacteria called clostridium botulinum. Clostridium botulinum toxin is produced when warm soil with the bacteria in it has some sort of protein and no oxygen. When animals that are affected by this toxin, birds, for example, ingest it, the animal gets paralysis. The animal does not have to ingest the toxin directly to suffer the effects. For example, since maggots are not affected by clostridium botulinum, if a bird were to eat a minimum of 2 infected maggots, the bird gets avian botulism. Between the years of 1900 and 1920, there were two outbreaks of avian botulism, causing over 3,000,000 birds to die. It was that there should be a place to protect the animal as well as the rapidly diminishing marshes in Bear River. Now there are tens of thousands of healthy birds and other animals, that migrate through or live in the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. …show more content…

This is one of the reasons why over 70 species of birds reside at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. For instance, the American white pelican, the snowy plover, and the black-necked stilt. In fact, the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge has one of the largest colonies of white-faced ibis in the world. It also provides approximately 60% of the breeding population of cinnamon teals in North America. Thus, it’s an impressive place to visit because of its wide variety of North American

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