© 2005 Rachelle Siegrist ....Science Art-Birds

Title: Aussi Sweethearts
Species: Black Swan (Cygnus atratus)
Artist: Rachelle Siegrist (for further information, click on the artist's name)
Image size: 3" x 3"
Media: watercolor
Date: 2005
Location: private collection in Alabama

The title of this miniature painting is sadly ironic. The day before Valentine's Day, 2004 a black swan infected with the H5N1 virus died at a zoo in Shenzhen, near Hong Kong. At the time, China had reported outbreaks of bird flu in Shanghai and three other regions. Concern was high because nearly four out of five fowl in China are raised on household farms where people live close to their animals, and the poultry industry was projected to produce more than 10 million tons that year. Strenuous efforts kept outbreaks in check.

Exactly two years later in Italy, again on the day before Valentine's Day, wild swans in the southern regions of Calabria, Puglia, and Sicily were found dead. They, too, had been inflected with the virus.

It's not clear why more wild swans than wild ducks and geese have been found dead--victims of H5N1--especially when one study has shown that infected ducks shed more virus for longer periods without showing symptoms of illness.