Experts on wild birds not major h5n1 carriers

the timing and distribution of the reported spread of H5N1 from South Korea (Dec 17, 2003) to Vietnam (Jan 8, 2004) to Indonesia (Feb 6, 2004) does not fit any known migratory pattern for any [waterbird] species

The situation remains that most of the spread of H5N1 HPAI has been associated with the poultry industry especially in places where the virus is endemic.

Wild birds have almost certainly been involved in some of the long distance spread of virus recently (genetic evidence supports this as well), but that once established in a region, spread via poultry or items used with poultry will occur. Iif the disease is not rapidly controlled this becomes the main route of transmission.

Reports of the role of wild birds as the cause of new bird flu outbreaks occur almost daily, but at the present time, there is little evidence available to support such statements...
Movement of birds, including annual migration, is only one of several
possible means of dissemination of the HPAI H5N1 virus. In many of the
areas of recent outbreaks, there is a thriving trade of live birds and
poultry products...
Although much has been made of the recent pattern of spread as indicative of avian migration, many ornithologists have indicated that the spread of H5N1 does not fit with known behavior of the bird species in that area of the world (Butler, D. 2005. Nature: ):
It should be noted that the same pattern of spread can just as easily be
seen as from the major routes of human transportation.

I think there is a lot of assumptions made out there that are not supported by the evidence.

They're the sentinels. They're not the reservoir that's spreading it around. They're infected because the poultry are infected...
When you have an outbreak, sometimes you don't really know what the cause was...
Nobody going to be upset with you if you say wild birds.

Governments embarassed by their failure to halt the flu's spread welcome that idea [that H5N1 travelled in the guts of wild waterbirds]. "They get a free lunch," says Guan Yi... "Each time there's an outbreak, they say, 'It's migratory birds. I cannot control them. I cannot lock my sky."
... Guan isn't ready to blame migratory birds for the spread so far. He thinks the virus has killed infected birds too quickly for them to fly long distances. Instead H5N1 probably hitchhiked across Asia in shipments of live poultry, in a disaster of our own making.

The outbreaks in China are not carried by the migratory birds...
Bird flu has already taken root deeply in China [i.e. Chinese poultry].
Namely China itself is the source of bird flu.

Wild birds are implicated spreading the disease because they travel a long distance. There is no absolute proof of that yet.
The real issue is where the highly pathogenic strain of the virus comes from. That's not in wild birds. It's almost certain it comes from poultry population.

The hypothesis that wild birds are to blame is simply far from proven. Wild birds occasionally come into contact with infected poultry and die: they are the victims not vectors of H5N1 bird flu.