{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T23:51:52Z","timestamp":1791244312452,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"Wildlife Disease Association","issue":"3","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Journal of Wildlife Diseases"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>While investigating an American Robin (Turdus migratorius) mass mortality event in February\u2013March 2022 in southwestern Virginia (USA), we collected parasites, investigated gizzard contents, and described flock demographics. We recovered ectoparasites (ticks, mites, lice) from 32\/83 (38.7%) individuals. Ten of 83 (12.0%) American Robins presented with scaly mites (Knemidocoptes) and varying levels of disfiguring keratin growth on their legs. We report that 57.1% of individuals harbored endoparasites and 90% of intact ventriculi contained seeds, pulp, or husks from American holly (Ilex opaca) berries. Although we were unable to test the berries directly, these findings lend credence to the conclusion that these birds died from consuming fermented holly berries. This mortality event provided an unusually large sample no longer collected systematically and provided baseline natural history data for a common migratory species. These data are valuable to researchers exploring changes in flock dynamics and parasite load due to contemporary stressors such as habitat and microhabitat modifications caused by anthropogenic impacts like climate change.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.7589\/jwd-d-24-00148","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,17]],"date-time":"2025-07-17T08:54:22Z","timestamp":1752742462000},"page":"619-627","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["MASS MORTALITY IN MIGRATING AMERICAN ROBINS (TURDUS MIGRATORIUS) IN VIRGINIA, USA: DATA BEYOND A DIAGNOSIS"],"prefix":"10.7589","volume":"61","author":[{"given":"Karen E.","family":"Powers","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Biology Department, Box 6931, Radford University, Radford, Virginia 24142, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"E. Haley","family":"Olsen-Hodges","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center of Roanoke, 5985 Coleman Rd., Roanoke, Virginia 24018, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sara","family":"O'Brien","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biology Department, Box 6931, Radford University, Radford, Virginia 24142, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stephen A.","family":"Smith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, 205 Duck Pond Dr., Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jamie K.","family":"Lau","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biology Department, Box 6931, Radford University, Radford, Virginia 24142, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liliana G.","family":"Dailey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biology Department, Box 6931, Radford University, Radford, Virginia 24142, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bianca A.","family":"Plowman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biology Department, Box 6931, Radford University, Radford, Virginia 24142, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tessa K.","family":"Harmon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biology Department, Box 6931, Radford University, Radford, Virginia 24142, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Robert R.","family":"Sheehy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biology Department, Box 6931, Radford University, Radford, Virginia 24142, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Matthew T.","family":"Close","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biology Department, Box 6931, Radford University, Radford, Virginia 24142, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Katie E.","family":"Wheeler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biology Department, Box 6931, Radford University, Radford, Virginia 24142, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"4415","reference":[{"key":"1","unstructured":"MC Bachman  and AB Berry  \"Proc Okla Acad Sci.\"  28, \"Notes on Mediorhynchus grandis, an acanthocephalan parasite of meadowlarks.\" 29 (1948)"},{"key":"2","unstructured":"JB Baker  and JH Hamon  \"Proc Indiana Acad Sci.\"  77, \"Some intestinal parasites of robins from Marion County, Indiana.\" 417 (1967)"},{"key":"3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"WM Burris, AP Kinziger, JM Black, et al.  \"J Wildl Dis.\"  58, \"Knemidokoptes mites and their effects on the gripping position of the feet of Steller's jays (Cyanocitta stelleri).\" 859 (2022)","DOI":"10.7589\/JWD-D-22-00016"},{"key":"4","unstructured":"\"Parasitic disease causing death of American Robins, healthywil dlife.ca\/parasitic-disease-causing-death-of-americanrobins.\"  (2013)"},{"key":"5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"CL Cooper  and JL Crites  \"J Wildl Dis.\"  10, \"Helminth parasites of the robin from South Bass Island, Ohio.\" 397 (1974)","DOI":"10.7589\/0090-3558-10.4.397"},{"key":"6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"CL Cooper  and JL Crites  \"Am Midl Nat.\"  95, \"A check list of the helminth parasites of the robin, Turdus migratorius Ridgway.\" 194 (1976)","DOI":"10.2307\/2424246"},{"key":"8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"JP Duff, JP Holmes, P Streete,  \"Vet Rec.\"  171, \"Suspected ethanol toxicity in juvenile blackbirds and redwings.\" 453 (2012)","DOI":"10.1136\/vr.e7322"},{"key":"9","unstructured":"L. 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