A likely significant outbreak of bird flu is sweeping through New Jersey, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

They’re now tracking growing reports of more than 1,000 dead birds.

New Jersey State Wildlife Pathologist Dr. Patrick Connelly received dozens of reports of dead geese over the last week.

“Our highest suspicion at this time is highly pathogenic avian influenza,” said Dr. Connelly. “This is a significant number of birds dying on the landscape in single locations beyond what we have seen in previous years.”

This avian flu outbreak is believed to be a continuation of what the Centers for Disease Control began tracking in 2022, but this winter has been especially cold.

“Because of the cold temperatures a lot of these water bodies are going to be frozen, and it seems that large numbers of waterfowl congregating at limited numbers of open water bodies,” said Dr. Connelly.

Dr. Connelly says the virus spreads between birds through close contact, saliva and respiratory secretions.

Infectious disease specialists say while the transmission risk to humans is low, keep your distance.

The DEP says it will be up to individual towns to remove dead bird carcasses. Crews in Spring Lake picked up eight on Tuesday.

The carcasses seen on Belmar Beach on Tuesday were also gone.

Other towns and counties are sounding the warnings and alerts on social media. Dr. Connelly says they should consider closing busy public spaces if carcasses can't be removed quickly from those areas.

“If you are walking your pet dog in the vicinity of dead birds or feces, I would not do that at this time and avoid contact,” he said.

Experts predict this wave of avian flu should slow once temperatures begin to warm up by April.

Test results on the new wave of dead birds should be known within a week or two. The DEP will begin providing weekly updates online each Wednesday.