Some Wild pigeons in Minnesota are infected with a debilitating parasite that up until now has only been found in pigeons in Germany, where it is causing serious harm to the population.


Here, the parasite was discovered by a veterniarian at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center last April when someone brought in a pigeon that couldn't fly and had a funny head tilt. After a few days the symptoms got worse, and the bird was moving in circles, twisting and literally standing on it head, said the vet, Leslie Reed.

The center took video of the bird, which you can see here. (Warning for the soft-hearted, it's painful to see this poor bird. The symptoms became so severe that she had to euthanize it.)



She sent the bird to the University of Minnesota veterinary diagnostic lab for testing because she was worried it might have a highly contagious viral infection. Instead, the pathologist found Sarcocystis calchasi, a nasty white parasite that burrows into the muscle tissue of the bird which was first discovered in pigeons in 2009 in Germany.

It's normal host is the Northern Goshawk or Cooper's hawk, but in those bird it does not cause symptoms. For reasons which are not understood, the parasite is finding its way into pigeons. Since Reed's discovery last April, a fifth of the pigeons brought into the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center are found to be infected, she said.

Nor does anyone know how the parasite got into Minnesota pigeons in the first place.

"With international shipments of animals, so many infectious diseases and parasites can cross from country to country," she said.

It's also not clear whether other birds could be affected, or what impact the parasite will have on pigeon populations here. But now that she's published her finding a scientific journal, others will start looking for it, and finding it in other parts of the country.

But not matter what, it's not good news for pigeons. In Germany, the parasite is decimating the population, she said.

"It's a pretty bad deal over there," she said.

And while we're doing interesting Minnesota bird stories, you can check out a couple more -- here (crows) and here (trumpeter swans.)