It has only been three weeks since H5 bird flu was detected on South Australia’s Limestone Coast and already encounters with sick or dead birds are becoming commonplace. He said people have undertaken conservation work over many decades to support shorebirds, which makes the recent arrival of bird flu “very upsetting”. A spokesperson for South Australia’s primary industries department said crested terns – which make up many of the bird flu cases – “commonly commingle” with other species like cormorants, gulls, grebes, ducks and other tern species. Mish Simpson, from SKER wildlife veterinary centre, said the clinic was already at capacity before bird flu. “Last week we talked about individual detections; the first cases of the H5 bird flu in Victoria.