Nadav Neuhaus

Scientists test birds for avian influenza (bird flu) at the 155-acre Hoffman Center, a nature preserve and wildlife sanctuary in Muttontown, Long Island, NY, on Sunday, June 11, 2006 for the first time in the northeastern United States. Bird specialists from the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary and Audubon Center, based in Oyster Bay, Long Island, were up at the crack of dawn for their regular tagging of wild birds ? a practice the group has been doing for the last five years. After receiving a request and a special kit from the California-based Institute for Bird Populations, the scientists began checking for bird flu for the first time today. Birds are caught in eight fog nets set up around the preserve. Specialists weigh the birds, estimate their age and take a lab sample, which will be sent out for testing. The birds are tagged and set free....... ..Lorraine Bondi-Goldsmith, 42, makes a cloacal swab to test birds for avian influenza (bird flu) at the 155-acre Hoffman Center, a nature preserve and wildlife sanctuary in Muttontown, Long Island, NY, on Sunday, June 11, 2006. Scientists from the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary and Audubon Center, based in Oyster Bay, Long Island, are testing for bird flu for the first time in the northeastern United States. Bird specialists from the sanctuary were up at the crack of dawn for their regular tagging of wild birds ? a practice the group has been doing for the last five years. After receiving a request and a special kit from the California-based Institute for Bird Populations, the scientists began checking for bird flu for the first time today. Birds are caught in eight fog nets set up around the preserve. Specialists weigh the birds, estimate their age and take a lab sample, which will be sent out for testing. The birds are tagged and ..