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Re: Birders watch for West Nile Virus



On Thu, 26 Oct 2000, Elizabeth L. Hanrahan wrote:
> >
> > However, At the meeting of the North Carolina Wildlife Rehabilitators last
> > October 15th at the zoo the topic of the West Nile Virus came up.  We were
> > asked by our permitting officer, Randall Wilson, Section Manager, Division
> > of Wildlife Management for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
> > to ask all birders to be on the lookout for flocks of blackbirds.
> > Speciffically, we were asked to notify folks to look for roosting sights
> > of: Crows, Grackles or other Corvids.

Hi Carolinabirders,

I'm sure most of us already know this, but Grackles are not Corvids. 
Corvidae is the crow family; the only species in North Carolina which 
belong to this family are American and Fish Crows and the Blue Jay, and 
in the mountains the Common Raven. I think that's all. The reason for 
attention to Corvids is that they are especially sensitive to the West 
Nile Virus, and so are the first species to start dying when WNV reaches 
a new area. American Crows are, at least; I haven't heard anything yet 
regarding the relative suceptibility of jays, ravens, or other species of 
crows.

Grackles, on the other hand, are not Corvids, but members of the family 
Icteridae, the New World Blackbirds. They are related to orioles, 
meadowlarks, and cowbirds as well as blackbirds, and probably some other 
birds I'm forgetting, but not crows. I'm sure that WNV has been detected 
in grackles, as it has in a dizzying array of species from gulls to 
raptors, but I don't think they share high suceptibility that corvids 
have. Elizabeth, could you contact Randall Wilson and find out if he 
really wants information on grackle roosts (perhaps because there are so 
many birds there) or was he under the mistaken impression that they were 
really Corvids?

Good birding,

Josh



Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/