H5 Bird Flu Queensland Update: Field Surveys and Site Visits
Second Queensland detection: Castaways Beach, 25 August 2026
The first was a petrel on Moreton Island, confirmed on 25 July 2026. For free-range commercial poultry, the Queensland Chief Veterinary Officer’s voluntary housing recommendation currently runs to 25 September 2026.
If you find sick or dead wild birds on a site in Queensland, the rule is hands off: leave them where they lie. Record what you can see from a distance and phone the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888. Biosecurity Queensland asks for a report when there are 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. Avian influenza viruses are restricted and prohibited matter under the Biosecurity Act 2014, and the state’s advice is that anyone who suspects an animal is infected has a legal responsibility to report it as soon as possible. On a work site that responsibility sits with whoever sees the birds, whether that is the landholder, the earthmoving contractor or the surveyor.
H5 bird flu is now confirmed in Queensland. A petrel found by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service rangers on Moreton Island was confirmed positive by CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness on 25 July 2026, and a shearwater found at Castaways Beach on the Sunshine Coast tested positive at the state’s Biosecurity Sciences Laboratory on 25 August. The September 2026 Regulatory Update from the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) describes where the state has landed: an ongoing wildlife disease to be monitored and managed for years to come, with Biosecurity Queensland leading the response under a national surveillance plan. This post is about what that means for ecological field work, site visits and approvals. The public advice for someone who simply finds a dead bird is in our earlier post, Bird Flu Reaches Queensland: What to Do If You Find a Sick or Dead Bird.
Does H5 bird flu change your site work?
Three questions, in order, and you can stop at the first row that describes your job.
| Question | If yes | If no |
|---|---|---|
| Will anyone on the job handle wild birds, carcasses, droppings, nest material or bird-contaminated water? | The work is in the highest exposure group WorkSafe Queensland lists (parks and wildlife workers, researchers handling bird specimens). PPE, hand-washing facilities in the field and a written procedure are expected. Wildlife Health Australia’s field guidance for banders, rangers and researchers applies. | Go to the next question. |
| Is the site on or near the coast, an estuary, a wetland, a dam or lake, a seabird or shorebird roost, or anywhere waterbirds gather in numbers? | Expect to encounter birds and plan for it: brief the crew on avoid, record, report; clean footwear, clothing and vehicles before leaving; keep dogs on a lead. Higher risk species are seabirds, waterfowl, shorebirds and birds of prey. | Go to the next question. |
| Is there poultry on the property, or a poultry farm next door? | Keep wild birds away from feed and water. Anyone who has handled wild birds stays away from domestic birds for 48 hours either side. For free-range commercial flocks, the Chief Veterinary Officer’s voluntary housing recommendation runs to 25 September 2026. | The reporting duty in the first paragraph still applies. Nothing else about your site work changes. |
What has changed since July
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 20 June 2026 | Australia’s first H5 bird flu case reported, in a migratory seabird in Western Australia | Queensland DPI |
| 24 July 2026 | A dead petrel from Moreton Island (Mulgumpin) returns a suspect positive at the Biosecurity Sciences Laboratory | Queensland DPI |
| 25 July 2026 | CSIRO confirms it: Queensland’s first detection. More than 1,000 Queensland reports to the hotline by this date | Queensland DPI |
| 23 August 2026 | First Australian detection in a mammal: a long-nosed fur seal at Beachport, South Australia | DAFF |
| 25 August 2026 | A shearwater at Castaways Beach, Sunshine Coast: Queensland’s second detection. More than 3,000 Queensland hotline reports by now | Queensland DPI |
| 26 August 2026 | Queensland CVO recommends extending voluntary housing of free-range commercial poultry to 25 September 2026 | Business Queensland |
| 28 August 2026 | A red fox at Osborne, Adelaide: the first land mammal detection in Australia | DAFF |
| 7 September 2026 | Confirmed in six jurisdictions; every detection is in wildlife, none in poultry | Wildlife Health Australia |
By early September Queensland had recorded two detections, both migratory seabirds, none in poultry and no mass mortality event in the state; the DETSI update, written against a 17 August snapshot, predates the second one. It also states plainly what the whole national system now assumes: H5 bird flu cannot be eradicated from wild birds and will need continued monitoring and management. In South Australia and Victoria there has already been local transmission between wild birds and a run of mass mortality events in greater crested terns, and Queensland’s Chief Biosecurity Officer has said publicly that mass events here are possible as the migratory seasons continue.
Reporting from a work site: what Biosecurity Queensland wants from you
Business Queensland’s reporting page is the operative instruction, and it is more specific than “call if you see something”. 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. Record the number of animals, the species if you can tell, the location as an address or a GPS pin, what they look like (freshly dead, bones only, signs of disease), and the date and time, and take photos or video from where you stand. Then phone 1800 675 888, which is staffed around the clock. In business hours Biosecurity Queensland can also be reached on 13 25 23. A Biosecurity Queensland officer reviews every report; depending on the risk assessment they may call you back, and in some cases birds are collected for testing. The Queensland Government’s tourism guidance adds a useful expectation: a follow-up call comes only when more information is needed, so no call back after a report is the normal outcome.
For a consultant the practical addition is a line in the survey log. Record the time of the call, what you reported and any instruction you were given, and carry that into the survey report. A dead tern on a shoreline transect is now a biosecurity observation as well as a fauna record, and a client reading the report six months later should be able to see that the duty was discharged on the day.
The signs to look for in a live bird, from the same page: lack of coordination, tremors or swimming in circles, a twisted neck or other abnormal posture, inability to stand or fly, diarrhoea, difficulty breathing, coughing or sneezing, swelling of the head, neck and eyes, and cloudy or discoloured eyes. In marine mammals: lack of coordination, seizures, difficulty breathing, nasal discharge and drooling.
Site visits and field surveys: how the work runs now
None of this stops a fauna survey, a waterway and wetland assessment or a routine site inspection. It adds a short procedure at each end of the day, and it changes what a crew does when it comes across a carcass. WorkSafe Queensland treats parks and wildlife workers and researchers who handle bird specimens as the highest exposure group, and it puts the duty on the employer: eliminate the exposure where you can, minimise it where you cannot, provide field workers with portable hand-washing facilities, and instruct them to clean and cover bird bites and scratches. Queensland Health’s public advice, updated 29 July 2026, is the same message for anyone: clean footwear, clothing and your vehicle when visiting national parks, reserves or farms, so that nothing travels with you to the next property.
Check the Business Queensland current situation page for the site’s region. Brief the crew on avoid, record, report and on the reporting thresholds. Pack disposable waterproof gloves, a surgical or P2 mask, eye protection, water and soap for hand washing, and a disinfectant that states on the label it kills viruses.
Observe carcasses from a distance and photograph them there, leaving them untouched, unmoved and unbagged unless the hotline says otherwise. Keep dogs on a lead, and keep eating, drinking and smoking well away from droppings. If anyone gets droppings or fluid on their skin, wash it with soap and water straight away.
Clean and disinfect boots, equipment and the vehicle before the next site, and wash hands before anyone eats. Anyone who handled wild birds keeps away from domestic poultry for 48 hours before and after. Note the report, if one was made, in the survey log.
Where a scope involves handling birds at all (a targeted survey with mist nets, a nest inspection, a bander on the team), Wildlife Health Australia’s field advice for bird banders, rangers and researchers is the guidance to work from, and the Australian Centre for Disease Control’s bird flu toolkit for people who work with birds covers the PPE side. We have folded the state’s expectations into our own survey procedures, and where a client’s site induction or construction environmental management plan covers fauna encounters, the avoid, record, report sequence and the hotline number belong in it. A biosecurity risk assessment can set the procedure down for a project that will run through the migratory season near the coast or a wetland. If that describes your program, ask for the procedure when you request a quote, so it is scoped with the survey and in the induction before the crew mobilises.
Dead birds on your land: who disposes of them, and how
The Queensland Government’s bird flu guidance (updated 2 September 2026) states the position for landholders in one line: landowners are responsible for disposing of animal carcasses. Its next line matters more for anyone tempted to tidy up: where possible, leave dead wildlife where it is found, because removing carcasses disturbs other birds and increases the risk of spreading the disease. Biosecurity Queensland’s disposal guide sets three conditions before you touch anything: you have advice from the hotline, the animals are small enough to fit in a leakproof bag in your general rubbish bin, and they cannot be left where they are. If all three hold, the method is:
- Put on two pairs of waterproof gloves, a mask, eye protection and long sleeves.
- Lift the animal with a tool or through the bag, and seal the bag.
- Double bag it, with the used gloves and mask inside the outer bag.
- Put it in an outdoor lidded general waste bin. Never bring it indoors, and never into a fridge or freezer.
- Clean and disinfect the tools, and hot-wash any clothing that took fluid or droppings.
That guide covers a small number of small carcasses. The DETSI update goes further for the case a coastal landholder might actually face: it says the Queensland Government has prepared a guideline for carcass disposal after a mass mortality event, covering in-location disposal, transporting carcasses and off-site disposal, and that the guideline is available on request from the department’s Bird Flu Coordination Centre. We could find no public copy of that document, so treat the hotline as the first call; once Biosecurity Queensland is managing an incident, its officers direct disposal. Wildlife Health Australia’s position is that decisions about removing carcasses during an outbreak should rest on a risk assessment, since removal reduces the environmental source of virus but also disturbs animals and exposes people. The same fact sheet notes that culling, dispersing wild birds and broadscale disinfection or modification of habitat are ineffective and sit outside Australia’s response policy, which is worth knowing before anyone proposes clearing a roost as a control measure.
Common mistakes on site
- Picking up a dead bird bare-handed, or bagging carcasses to tidy the site before a walk-over. Handling is the exposure route; the state’s default is to leave dead wildlife in place and let the hotline say what happens next.
- Clearing or dispersing a roost as a control measure. Wildlife Health Australia lists both as ineffective and outside the national response, and the roost is still vegetation, assessed as it was before the outbreak.
- Phoning in a report and never writing it down. Six months later the survey report cannot show the duty was discharged; a line in the survey log fixes that.
- Mobilising a coastal or wetland program in the migratory season with no bird procedure in the induction. The crew improvises, and the procedure gets written after the first carcass.
Brief the first three before the crew leaves the depot. The fourth is fixed at scoping, where we build the procedure into the survey program: call (07) 3018 7538 before the program starts.
What this does not change
Questions we are being asked
One dead magpie on the site. Do I have to report it?
A single magpie on its own sits below Biosecurity Queensland’s reporting thresholds. If it is one of several, or the bird was showing signs before it died, or you are unsure, report it; the hotline does the risk assessment, and the state’s own advice is that reports assessed as low risk simply do not lead to collection.
Which species are the higher risk ones on a Queensland site?
The Queensland Government lists seabirds (gulls, terns, shearwaters), waterfowl (ducks, swans, geese), shorebirds, and birds of prey or scavengers (eagles, hawks, owls, crows, ravens), with birds that gather in high-density settings at greater risk again. DCCEEW adds that common species such as black swans, pelicans and magpie geese could be significantly affected, and that species which use a single breeding or roosting location are at higher risk. Both Queensland detections to date were migratory seabirds, a petrel and a shearwater, found on beaches.
Can a survey crew keep working near a seabird colony or a wetland?
Yes. The Queensland Government’s advice to visitors is that watching birds and enjoying nature is safe; keep to paths, follow signs, do not feed wild birds, and clean shoes, clothing and vehicles between places. The exposure risk is in handling birds, their droppings and contaminated water, which is where PPE and hygiene come in. Human infection is rare and the Australian Centre for Disease Control’s assessment is that the risk to people remains low.
The client wants the carcasses gone before the site walk. What do we do?
Ring the hotline first and follow its advice. The state’s default is to leave dead wildlife in place. Removal is for a small number of small carcasses that cannot be left, after hotline advice, with PPE, double bagging and an outdoor general waste bin. If Biosecurity Queensland has taken the incident on, its officers direct what happens to the carcasses. A survey crew is not a disposal contractor, and moving birds off a site without that advice is the one thing every government page tells you not to do.
What about the people on the crew?
Queensland Health’s page lists wildlife workers and volunteers handling sick or dead birds among the higher risk groups. Symptoms in people appear one to ten days after exposure and look like ordinary flu, sometimes with conjunctivitis. Anyone with influenza-like symptoms after contact with infected birds should phone 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84). There is no human vaccine for bird flu in Australia; the seasonal flu vaccine is still recommended, particularly for people with regular close contact with birds during an outbreak, because it lowers the chance of catching both at once.
What is DETSI’s role, as against Biosecurity Queensland’s?
Biosecurity Queensland, within the Department of Primary Industries, is the lead agency and runs the incident management team, the surveillance program and the hotline response. DETSI’s Regulatory Update describes the department as supporting that response on the wildlife side, and DETSI has told the birdwatching network it is working with partners and permit holders on early detection and protecting vulnerable native species. If you hold a wildlife permit issued by DETSI, expect any bird flu conditions to come through that channel.
Sources: Queensland DPI media releases of 24 July, 25 July and 25 August 2026; Business Queensland’s current situation, report suspected bird flu and dispose of dead wildlife pages; the Queensland Government’s bird flu hub with its wildlife rehabilitator and tourism operator pages; WorkSafe Queensland; Queensland Health; the Australian Government’s birdflu.gov.au and DAFF H5 updates; Wildlife Health Australia’s H5 resource centre; and DCCEEW on native species.
Running a survey or a site program through the migratory season near the coast or a wetland? We can build the reporting and hygiene procedure into the scope so the crew and the client both know what happens when a bird turns up. Request a quote or call (07) 3018 7538.