The sad sight of dead swans, geese and ducks met Betsy Sallade-Farina when she woke up Thursday, Feb. 6, on her lake near the county line between Livingston and Washtenaw counties.
“I’ve been on the chain of lakes all my life, and I’ve never seen so many birds dead like that,” said Sallade-Farina, who lives on Little Whitewood Lake in Hamburg Township north of Dexter. An outbreak of avian influenza, known as bird flu, is leading to reports of wild birds dying off in southern Michigan, including in and around Ann Arbor, according to state wildlife pathologist Julie Melotti.