Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2003 17:03:55 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Carol Schreter Subject: Where are the Titmice? Dead of West Nile Virus? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Early September, Carol Schreter posted a message (via Peter Webb) about 6 songbirds dying at Schreter's feeder in Baltimore City, in Mt. Washington, from mid-late August. Included a Chickadee + 5 House Finch. I also had an adult male Goldfinch unable to fly. (Sign of neurological damage.) I got one carcass to the Dept. of Agriculture's Animal Lab in Frederick, Md, to Dr. Virginia Pierce. She did a necropsy and then sent a tissue sample to Texas for West Nile Virus testing. Diagnosis: This bird died of a combination of West Nile Virus (WNV) and fungal pneumonia (transmitted by air-borne spores). Bird was probably weakened by the pneumonia first, then died of West Nile virus -- without showing any of the characteristic signs of WNV, such as enlarged heart or enlarged brain. Dr. Pierce was willing to do the study because: 1) we know so very little about West Nile Virus and songbirds; and 2) I paid the $30 fee for testing of WNV. She believes that West Nile can be transmitted from bird to bird at feeders, so advised me to stop feeding birds, until the first frost. So, why are there no titmice in some areas? Could very well be West Nile virus. What can birders learn from this? What might we birders do differently: - At our feeders? - Place BTI larvicides into our backyard ponds from spring - first frost? Carol Schreter. Baltimore Bird Club Conservation Committee 1905 Dixon Rd. Baltimore, MD 21209 -3507 Phone: (410) 664-5151 CSchreter@aol.com _____________ Original Message from Janet Millenson In my yard, Tufted Titmouse has always been one of those birds that's seen or heard virtually every day, year-round -- yet in recent weeks I've hardly seen any. With the change of seasons the feeders have become busy again, but the finches, chickadees and nuthatches aren't being joined by the usual perky little gray birds. Has anyone else noticed fewer titmice around lately? The scarcity of crows (presumably from the depredations of West Nile) is bad enough, but losing the little dicky-birds too would be very alarming. Janet Millenson Potomac, MD (Montgomery County) janet@twocrows.com - > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================