Yesterday afternoon while working in my garden I heard more crow
squawking than usual so I looked at a power pole just down the block
that had around thirty crows on it with more flying in, a real-life
murder of crows, all cawing loudly. After a couple of minutes all but
two flew off, and I went over to see what had brought them in. At the
foot of the pole was a dead crow, showing no particular signs of
violence or singed feathers from an electric shock. Had West Nile
Virus arrived in West Seattle? Or had this individual just died from
some other unapparent cause? At any rate, it seemed to have been a
funeral of sorts for the unfortunate crow.

Paul Webster
paul.webster at attbi.com