Folks,

It occurs to me that the east side of Cleveland may be particularly
attractive real estate for exploring Fish Crow because the American Crow
population in this area has never fully recovered from the 2002 outbreak
of West Nile virus. The Cleveland area was particularly hard hit by the
virus (in both avian and human terms), and my sense is that the outbreak
was particularly severe in the inner ring eastern suburbs (including
Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, and University Heights), although
there aren't any hard data to support this theory. The American Crow
population in the Cleveland area has been very slow to recover, and
American Crows are only this spring and summer again becoming a regular
sight here. I once again see one or two in a couple of hours of birding,
which is still nothing like the pre-WNV population.

(See my article in the Spring and Summer 2009 /Ohio Cardinal/ if you are
burning with curiosity about the impact of West Nile virus in Ohio.)

Laura Gooch

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