FreeLists / tn-bird / [tn-bird] a very tragic situation

[Wallace Coffey <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

TN-Birders:

The following is a message I lifted from Georgia Birds which was posted
by Jim Wilson, Georgia Important Bird Area Coordinator.  This is a report on
a very tragic situation.  It is a forward of a message by Judy Pollock, Bird
Conservation Projects Manager, Audubon - Chicago Region.

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
 -------------------------------BEGIN FORWARD-------------------------------
          West Nile Virus
     Date:
          Wed, 11 Sep 2002 10:01:49 -0500
     From:
          Judy Pollock <bobolnk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

This is pretty far off the topic of IBA, but we're experiencing a huge crow
die-off in the north suburbs of Chicago.  We just did a survey and found
virtually all the crows are gone from a 100 square mile area that once had
many many thousands. (There's no way seasonal movement would account for
this - anyway the sanitation departments are picking them up by the
dozens.)  This doesn't seem to square with the current idea that the only
most susceptible individuals succumb to this wave of disease.  People are
beginning to comment on the absence of yard and feeder birds in that area
as well; chickadees seem to be pretty hard hit; but that is just anecdotal.

I attached an excerpt fro our press release with a description of our study
below.  If anyone has any thoughts about how this compares to what is going
on in other regions or what this might mean for our summer residents whose
numbers it is impossible to monitor at this time of year, I'd appreciate if
you responded to me.

Thanks!

Judy Pollock

Audubon -Chicago Region today announced the results of a survey of bird
observations taken over 4 recent days in the Chicago region. This survey,
conducted by 35 experienced bird monitors, confirms that crows are now almost
completely absent from our northern suburbs and far north and northwestern
Chicago. Crow populations are reduced significantly in other areas. Trained
monitors also reported an absence of other bird species. According to Judy
Pollock, Audubon's Bird Conservation Projects Manager, "Crows are noisy and
visible birds whose absence is easily noted. It is harder to measure the
impact
on the songbirds - and the rare and endangered birds we have in the area that
depend on our forest preserves for habitat. One hundred eleven species of
birds
are known to be affected by the West Nile Virus, and no birds have yet been
found that are immune to WNV. This survey raises great concern for the fate
of
birds living in our yards, parks, forest preserves."

Monitors were asked to spend 45 minutes looking for crows between Thursday
September 5 and Sunday September 8, in places where they would normally
expect
to find them at this time of year, and to report their results. In northern
Cook County - from Glencoe and Northbrook to the far north and northwest
sides
of Chicago - fourteen survey teams spent a total of over 11 hours searching
for
crows and turned up only three crows. No crows at all were found in
Evanston, a
town which has experienced an enormous population of hundreds of crows in
recent years. In West and Northwest Cook County and DuPage county, crow
numbers
were very low: 16 survey routes yielded 15 crow sightings. In the other areas
surveyed - Lake, McHenry and Kane counties, the west and near north sides of
Chicago, and Southern Cook County - numbers were somewhat low, with 17
observer
teams reporting 75 sightings. Monitors who keep track of bird numbers over
the
years uniformly reported decreases in their 2002 August and September crow
sightings compared to previous years. Historical data from these monitors
suggests that an average of about five crows per route might be expected at
this time of year.
Monitors reported unusual numbers of dead or ill birds of many species seen
in
recent weeks. These include American kestrels, great horned owls, red-tailed
hawks, blue jays, chickadees, house sparrows, house finches and even pigeons.
Some report that their normally bustling feeders and birdbaths are empty.
"Eerie" was the word used by Charlotte Adelman of Wilmette. Others agreed.
"Every day for the last week I had sick and dying finches in my yard, with
symptoms that looked like West Nile Virus. Now my house finches are almost
gone - the bird seed just sits there; nothing eats it,"said Jill Anderson of
River Forest. Some observers commented on the absence of usual birds in their
yards and woods. "It's like 'Silent Summer' in my neighborhood," said Stephen
Packard of his yard in Northbrook. Elizabeth De la Baume, also of Northbrook,
said, "I haven't had black-capped chickadees in my yard for a month - and
they

are ALWAYS around."

The survey was conducted by the trained and experienced monitors of the Bird
Conservation Network Census. These monitors count birds of the parks and
forest preserves in northeastern Illinois throughout the year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Judy Pollock
Bird Conservation Projects Manager
Audubon - Chicago Region
5225 Old Orchard Rd.  Suite 37
Skokie, IL 60077
(847) 965-1150
fax (847) 965-9282
jpollock@xxxxxxxxxxx
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