Crows Die in Winter, New York State

Associated Press, Friday Feb 18, 2005 [edited]

ALBANY [New York] - Three dead crows found this week in the
Poughkeepsie [area, Dutchess County] tested positive for the WNV, the
state Department of Environmental Conservation [DEC] said on Thursday.

While there have been thousands of crows found with the virus in New
York, this is only the third time infected crows have died during
winter, state officials said.

"We normally think of West Nile as a disease of the warm months,"
said state DEC wildlife pathologist Ward Stone, adding crows can have
the disease in any season.

Officials received a call through the USDA 'dead bird hot line'
(1-866-537-BIRD) about a large number of crows dying near a roost in
Poughkeepsie. Of the 26 crows state technicians found Monday, three
tested positive for the virus. Toxicology reports have not determined
if the virus killed them.

Stone said the state is running tests to determine the precise cause.
One possibility, he said, is that some of the crows could have
developed resistance to the virus and lived months longer before
succumbing to it. Or the virus could have changed and become less
pathogenic.

Another possibility is the virus was passed to the crows by something
besides mosquitos, the usual summertime carrier. The birds may have
ingested the carcass of an infected animal.

Stone said insects other than mosquitoes could have transmitted the
disease - such as ticks or biting flies, which can live through a
mild winter burrowed in crows' feathers.

Investigators have returned to the roost - on the eastern side of the
Mid-Hudson Bridge partially surrounded by a highway - to look for
more dead birds. Stone said they are also widening the search to
other roosts. ...

Before the Poughkeepsie crows, only two other birds in the state have
been found infected in winter. One crow infected died when it was hit
by a train in central New York, and a red-tail hawk died in
Westchester. Both cases were reported almost five years ago.

Stone said the new find does not pose an elevated risk to humans.

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