Several hundred ducks found dead from suspected bird flu along Lake Michigan
The largest concentrations of sick mergansers were found Saturday at North Avenue Beach and Oak Street Beach. Other birds with symptoms were reported from Hyde Park to Wilmette between Friday and Sunday.
Hundreds of red-breasted mergansers have been found either dead or sick over the past few days along Lake Michigan in Chicago and into the northern suburbs.
Officials suspect that highly contagious bird flu is the cause of the illnesses found in the mergansers, a species of diving duck that winters in the Great Lakes region.