Avian Cholera Kills Thousands of Birds

Pasteurella multocida is a bacterium often called Avian cholera (though it is a different organims than the disease that affects humans). It is estimated that about 15,000 birds have died over the last few weeks in the Great Salt Lake, in Utah. A similar epidemic occurred in 1994, killing 10,000 birds.

There are writeups here at the New York Times and here at the USGS.