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Fw: report of West Nile Virus killing wild and captive raptors



Fred Houk here, from Chatham County, NC...
I have worked closely with Mark Johns, head of NC Partners in Flight,
over the years in coffee/bird migration work.  He forwarded this to me,
about West Nile Virus and raptors, a while back.

Come to think of it, there MAY be a connection with the "positive
sighting" by a trained ornithology grad student, of the Ivory Bill
Woodpecker, West Nile Virus, and the subsequent lack of any further
sightings...wouldn't that be sad???

Anyway, this is for  Johnathon Steere, who asked about WNV and
raptors...
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Subject: Fw: report of West Nile Virus killing wild and captive raptors


From: "Mark E. Johns" <johnsme@mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: report of West Nile Virus killing wild and captive raptors

More info on West Nile ecology and species that are susceptible to it
can be found at the CDC website:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/birds&mammals.htm
>From the Birdband listserver comes this report about
the spread of the mosquito-transmitted West Nile Virus
to raptors in widely separated areas:

LABIRD:
> > Steve Barry (Wildlife Project Leader), Crane Creek
> > Wildlife Research Station, Ohio, has reported a die-off of raptors.
So far, rough estimates indicate that 100-125 Great-Horned Owls, 2
captive Golden Eagles, and
numerous hawk species have been found dead.  Seven of
8 specimens sent to the Ohio Health Department tested positive for WNV.
The USGS National Wildlife Health Lab in Madison, Wisconsin is assisting
in the analysis of the Ohio raptor die-off. In addition, the
OhioDivision of Wildlife has reported an " enormous number" of telephone
calls from citizens who are reporting additional dead or dying and other
birds.  Since Louisiana has reported more human infections from WNV than
any other state thus far this season, one has to wonder what the
mortality rate may be among Louisiana birds.

submitted by Stan Moore      San Geronimo, CA    hawkman11@hotmail.com