The Sacramento Bee Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Letters to the Editor
The other West Nile victimsWhile I realize that the impact of the West Nile virus on humans is more important than on birds, we wish to comment on our observation of the effects the virus had on the bird population in our neighborhood alone.
Before the virus came in the summer, we had a large population of birds, especially crows and magpies. We saw the die-off begin, and soon the neighborhood was just about cleared of crows and magpies. Where we had heard their calls in the morning and seen them walking from lawn to lawn during the day, they were nowhere to be seen by September.
We have seen a few crows here and there in recent weeks, but no magpies. Since this particular subspecies is exclusively found in the Sacramento Valley, we're concerned that they won't make a comeback.
- Joan and Keith Burk, Sacramento