Füsti fecskék (Hirundo rustica) betörő hidegfront okozta tömeges elhullása 2024 szeptemberében Magyarországon = Sudden deaths of barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) caused by an invading cold front in September 2024 in Hungary

Gál, János and Komlós, Nikolett and Sós-Koroknai, Viktória and Sós, Endre and Hoitsy, Márton György and Ziszisz, Árisz and Marosán, Miklós and Tóth, Tamás and Kertész, Péter and Zsiborás, Luca and Dénes, Lilla and Mándoki, Míra (2025) Füsti fecskék (Hirundo rustica) betörő hidegfront okozta tömeges elhullása 2024 szeptemberében Magyarországon = Sudden deaths of barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) caused by an invading cold front in September 2024 in Hungary. MAGYAR ÁLLATORVOSOK LAPJA, 147 (8). pp. 493-498. ISSN 0025-004X

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Abstract

A szerzők szeptember közepén, egy erős hidegfronti hatás miatt jelentkező tömegeselhullást észleltek füsti fecskék (Hirundo rustica) vonulási időszakát megelőző napokban. Apatológiai vizsgálatok során megállapították, hogy a madarak felélték teljes zsírraktáraikatés a mellizmaik is jelentősen sorvadtak volt. Az akut testtömegcsökkenés (12,0–13,0 gközötti testtömeg) mellett a májsejtek glikogénraktára teljesen kiürült és a mirigyes-, ill.a zúzógyomorban vérzéseket lehetett megfigyelni. Az elhullás hátterében a fecskék számára elfogható repülő rovar mint táplálékforrás, hideg, esős idő miatti hirtelen eltűnéseokozta eléhezés állt. Az eset felhívja a figyelmet a globális klímaváltozás hirtelen jelentkező szélsőséges hatásainak veszélyeire egyes érzékenyebb állatpopulációk esetében. | Background: The barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) is a migratory bird with a characteristic color, shiny black on the back, dirty white feathers on the belly, rust-red throat, weighing 17–20 g. This species mainly hunts flying insects, catching them in flight and the swallows are constantly hunting in the air between sunrise and sunset. As the food-scarce autumn season approaches, swallows gather in large flocks and when the daytime temperature drops permanently below 15 ºC, they leave for their wintering grounds in Africa. The birds are preparing for the migration, replenishing their body's fat depots. By the time of leaving, the birds reach a body weight of 22–25 g, which enables them to travel thousands of kilometers. The metabolism of birds is fast, which is especially noticeable in smaller species. Shortterm starvation is already associated with a significant deterioration in nutritional status. Objectives: The carcasses of the swallows that were still alive at the time of capture, but died during transport were examined to identify to cause of sudden death. Materials and Methods: On September 16, 2024, 34 immobile and flightless swallows were delivered to the Clinic of the Department of Exotic Animal and Wildlife Medicine from the beach in Csopak, Hungary (46° 58′ 10.4″ N, 17° 56′ 13.9″ E). Five randomly selected carcasses of swallows were examined according to the standard pathological me- thods (dissection, histopathology, special stainings, bacteriological examination, PCR). Results and Discussion: During the dissection the body weight of the swallows delivered to the clinic was 12.0–13.0 g (12.6 g on average) which is around half of the normal bodyweight of these birds before migration. The supplementary examinations were negative for known pathogens and histopathology showed extreme lack of glycogen. According to the weather data from 11th of September 2024, a cyclone with significant cooling and heavy rainfall hit Hungary. The reason behind the death of the swallows was starvation caused by the sudden disappearance of the population of f lying insects that could be caught by swallows due to cold and rainy weather. This case draws attention to the dangers of sudden extreme effects of global climate change in the case of some sensitive animal populations.

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