In article ,
Rusty Mase wrote:

Just an extension of the nice background info John posted on the
mosquito machines.

I have lived in the same place for nearly 30 years, just west of Loop
360 and Bee Caves Road. Over the years, I supported a nice population
of Scrub Jays that lived in my neighborhood. I put Purina Cat Chow
out for them and they were healthy, possibly comprising 4 to 5 nesting
pairs. Last year there seemed to be fewer of them and this year I
only hear one rarely off in the distance. Similar results for a tract
of land off RR 2222 I keep up with and Wild Basin WP seems empty of
them.

The only explanation I can see is that Jays, like American Crows are
very susceptible to West Nile and their populations have been
adversely affected. Affects on other species of birds is not as
apparent. I always had problems with Blue Jays but this year even
they are largely absent. This situation has been studied.
http://westnilevirus.nbii.gov/birds.html

So, I think I will become more serious about mosquito control, mostly
in the area of providing shelters for bats and swifts.

Rusty Mase

Unfortunately, I have also noticed that there aren't nearly as many
jays around as there were a few years ago. I, like you, attribute
this to WNV. I'm in Gatesville.
--
8^(~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail)
~~~~~~
"I reserve the absolute right to be smarter
today than I was yesterday." -Adlai Stevenson

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