The long, cold winter — coupled with heavy snowfalls — has been responsible for increased heating bills in the Nicola Valley this year. 

And after a bit of investigating, it seems Old Man Winter is also responsible for the deaths of five birds of prey on a property on Quilchena Avenue earlier this year.

BC conservation officer Joe Garay confirmed to the Herald that the four red-tailed hawks, along with a great horned owl were all starving at the times of their death. 

“The hawks were all emaciated with no signs of trauma or any significant disease. So they determined that the likely cause of death was emaciation,” said Garay. “That can probably be attributed to that cold weather we had during those couple weeks there.”

Toxicology reports for the hawks also came back negative, Garay said.

The owl was a bit of a different case, as the bird’s carcass showed signs of trauma indicating that it had probably been hit by a car along Highway 8, explained Garay. The bird survived the collision, but likely flew to a roosting tree before succumbing to its injuries.

“The emaciation could have contributed to the weakness and the abnormal flight. The toxicology results for that owl also came back negative,” said Garay.

Apart from the manner that the birds were discovered — all five carcasses clustered in a small area on the property — Garay said the results of the investigation weren’t surprising.

“Probably the reason they were all found in that one location is that there were nice, big thick roosting trees, so that’s probably why they were there.”

Back in January, Dr. Alan Burger of the Nicola Valley Naturalists Society had suggested the hard winter was a possible explanation for the birds’ deaths.

“This has been a hard winter for predators because the snow cover has been deep and exceptionally prolonged, making it difficult for hawks and owls to get to the mice, voles and pocket gophers they normally prey on,” explained Burger in an email to the Herald. “Our naturalist group in Merritt has had two other reports of dead owls in town.”

Garay said this was the only call he received regarding dead birds of prey this winter. However, the conservation officer is investigating a report of about a number of robin and waxwing carcasses discovered near the corner of Coldwater Avenue and Garcia Street.

“There were five robins and three waxwings that were dead. I combed the area looking for evidence of any others but there were no others around,” said Garay.

While the bodies of the birds will be shipped away to the Abbotsford clinic for an autopsy in the coming days, Garay is already working on a theory of how the birds perished.

“There were some ornamental crabapple trees across the street. There were birds feeding on those fermented fruits, those ornamental crabapples that were still hanging from the trees,” explained Garay. “History shows that birds can eat those fermented fruits, and become drunk. They’ll hit windows, or there was a plexiglass bus stop beside the lot. The strange thing is that the birds should be piled up next to the bus stop, not spread all over the lot.”

While Garay figures that tipsy flying might be the explanation for the birds’ deaths, having discovered eight birds dead in one location gave him enough pause to call in the discovery to the BC Interagency Wild Bird Mortality Investigation Protocol 2016 Avian Influenza Surveillance Program — which tracks incidents where the avian flu could be at work.

Garay recommended that anyone who comes upon a group of three or more dead birds in the same geographic area call the hotline to report the incident. The number is 1-866-431-2473.