Bill deformities in wild birds are normally very rare, so when concentrations of Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) and Northwestern Crows (Corvus caurinus) with malformed bills were detected in Alaska in the late 1990s and early 2000s, citizens and researchers became alarmed. An epizootic of bill deformities was documented and described as an emerging avian disease, coined “avian keratin disorder” (AKD) (Handel et al. 2010). Birds with this disorder had elongated, twisted bills caused by accelerated production of keratin in the rhamphotheca, the outer layer of a bird’s bill (Van Hemert et al. 2012b). Between 1999 and 2008, studies revealed that 6.5% of Alaska Black-capped Chickadees had bill deformities characteristic of AKD (Handel et al. 2010), and in 2007 and 2008 the prevalence of AKD in Alaska populations of the Northwestern Crow averaged nearly 17%, ranging as high as 36% in the Kenai Peninsula (Van Hemert and Handel 2010). These were by far the highest rates of bill deformities reported in wild bird populations. Although chickadees and corvids have had the largest number of reported cases, woodpeckers, nuthatches, and an increasingly wide variety of other species have also been affected (Handel et al. 2010, C. Van Hemert pers. comm.). Signifiant outbreaks of AKD-like deformities have also been reported in the United Kingdom, affecting similar taxa (www.bto.org/ volunteer-surveys/gbw/about/background/projects/bgbw). Afflcted birds become handicapped in their ability to accomplish essential activities such as feeding and preening, and mortality rates appear high (Van Hemert et al. 2012a, Van Hemert et al. 2012b, Handel et al. 2010).