Bird Flu Reaches Queensland: What to Do If You Find a Sick or Dead Bird

Updated 8 September 2026: this post first went up on 24 July 2026 while the Moreton Island result was still a suspect positive. It has been brought up to date with the confirmation, the second Queensland detection and Biosecurity Queensland’s current reporting advice.

Bird flu has reached Queensland. A dead petrel found by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service rangers on Moreton Island was confirmed positive for H5 high pathogenicity avian influenza, the globally circulating strain of “bird flu”, by CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness on 25 July 2026. It was the first detection in the state. A second followed on 25 August, when a dead shearwater found on Castaways Beach on the Sunshine Coast tested positive at the Queensland Government’s Biosecurity Sciences Laboratory. The message for the public is unchanged by either: if you come across a sick or dead bird, avoid it, record what you see, and report it.

What to Do If You Find a Sick or Dead Bird

This is the single most important thing to take away. Moving or handling affected birds can spread the virus and put you, your pets, and other wildlife at risk. If you find a sick or dead bird - especially near the coast, wetlands, or waterways - follow these three steps:

Biosecurity Queensland asks you to report five or more sick or dead birds of any species, or any number of sick or dead seabirds, shorebirds, waterbirds, birds of prey or marine mammals. Bird flu is a nationally notifiable animal disease, and the state’s advice is that anyone who suspects an animal might be infected has a legal responsibility to report it as soon as possible. If you keep poultry, whether a commercial flock or a few backyard hens, limit contact between your birds and wild birds, keep feed and water where wild birds cannot reach them, and report any unexplained sickness or deaths to the same hotline.

What Has Been Detected, and Where

Both Queensland detections have been single dead migratory seabirds found on beaches: a petrel on Moreton Island and a shearwater at Castaways Beach. The Department of Primary Industries reports no detections in poultry and no evidence of large-scale deaths of any animals in Queensland, and it has said H5 bird flu cannot be eradicated from wild birds and is expected to remain an ongoing wildlife disease needing continued monitoring. The national picture has moved a long way since July. Australia’s first case was reported on 20 June 2026 in Western Australia. By 7 September the virus was confirmed in six jurisdictions, with local transmission between wild birds and mass mortality events in greater crested terns in South Australia, and in August the first Australian detections in mammals, a long-nosed fur seal and then a red fox, both in South Australia. Every detection so far has been in wildlife; there are none in poultry or the wider agricultural system.

Common Questions

Staying Alert in the Field

Bird flu does not stop outdoor work, but it does reinforce good field hygiene for anyone working near wildlife. On fauna surveys around wetlands, estuaries, and coastlines, that means cleaning and disinfecting boots and equipment between sites, avoiding contact with carcasses, and reporting unusual mortality. For projects near shorebird roosts, seabird colonies, or important wetlands, these measures can be built into a biosecurity risk assessment so crews have clear procedures to follow. What that looks like on a site now, from the reporting thresholds to PPE and carcass disposal, is set out in our follow-up post, H5 Bird Flu Queensland Update: Field Surveys and Site Visits.

Australia has well-established national arrangements for responding to emergency animal diseases, and the human health risk remains low. The most valuable thing most people can do is simple: avoid, record, and report to 1800 675 888.