Subject: West Nile Virus and crows
Date: Sep 19 11:39:52 2002
From: 'Devorah' D Wisti - nyneve at u.washington.edu



i read on pro-med, an emerging diseases email list sponsored by
several organizations, including the CDC, that 111 familes of
birds are known to be affected so far by west nile virus. crows
in particular, appear to be most vulnerable, but other birds do
also die from this, although no one seems sure what the mortality
rate is among them.

i also dread the arrival of west nile virus because i love crows.
i am certain it would be very traumatic to watch a crow fly across the
sky (as i do) only to see it drop dead in midflight from the sky, as
has been reported more than once by others (most of whom don't care
about crows at all).

in a way, i am happy that i won't be here when west nile virus arrives,
i'll be moving to an already decimated area. a friend of mine told me
that her sister lives in the washington DC area and has only seen ONE
individual crow this year. she suspected that this crow was a vagrant
from elsewhere.

i shall miss "my" crows very much, i shall miss sharing my lunch with
them, and i will miss the youngster that fledged, landing in my lap
during lunch one day earlier this year, thrilling me and shocking my
lunchtime companions. [of course, i HAD to show off this bird's beautiful
blue eyes to them, and the young crow was so cooperative -- terrified,
probably -- so they got a good, close look. and i got to hold a newly
fledged wild crow!]

regards,

Devorah A. N. Bennu, PhD (in transition between Seattle and NYC)
nyneve at u.washington.edu
Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow
The American Museum of Natural History, New York City
Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
Love the creator? Then protect the creation.

On Thu, 19 Sep 2002, Kelly Cassidy wrote:

> I don't know that you're in the minority, Brett. I love crows, too. They're one of my favorite birds. (I like House Sparrows, too.) I also dread the arrival of West Nile Virus, but only partly because of its direct effect on birds. I cringe at the prospect of trucks driving through neighborhoods late at night spraying insecticide to try to control something that is probably now beyond control. The insectivorous birds will get hammered, even if they aren't susceptible to the virus.
>
> Still, as a scientist, I can't help but be curious about what will happen to bird species supposedly affected by crow predation. For example, I've heard speculation that the decline in nighthawks in the Puget Sound may have been caused the rise of crows ( or maybe gulls, or maybe a combination of both). .Of course, if nighthawks don't rebound following the demise of crows, you couldn't conclude that crows didn't have an impact on nighthawks. Mosquito spraying might prevent nighthawks from taking advantage of fewer crows.
>
> Kelly Cassidy
> Pullman
>