Counting Crows, Again

My work buddies have been continuing to catch crows as part of a West Nile virus study. The backpacks with the radio transmitters seem to have held up remarkably well in most cases. There is a large roost site in Davis which most of the crows fly into at dusk, and their beep-beep-beeps alert the folks following along on radios to their presence. (This is, incidentally, a VERY bad place to park your car.)

Last week I spotted a crow with an antenna (well, I spotted the silver tag around its ankle) just outside my window at work. I’ve seen it every day since. This crow, #652, seems to be paired up. It’s almost always with another crow now. (By the way, Coup de Vent, it doesn’t seem at ALL bothered by the weight of the transmitter or the straps or even the antenna, though it had certainly lost the tape off the end…)

We heard 652 this evening at the roost site along with 14 others. We missed four, but we hope the volunteer will find them tomorrow night. All this rain we’ve been having is yielding a bumper crop of mosquitoes, and it won’t be long before the virus hits this region like a sledgehammer.