West Nile threatens magpie population
WEST NILE virus hasn’t caused widespread human deaths in California, but it’s ravaging wild birds. About 88,000 have been reported dead across the state, though hundreds of thousands have probably died and not been recovered, says Walter Boyce, director of the Wildlife Health Center at UC Davis.
The virus is hammering crows, jays and magpies. It has killed two-thirds to three-fourths of the crows in the eastern United States.
“There have been a large number of magpies observed dead this year,” Boyce says, noting the yellow-billed magpie, unique to California, could go extinct. “Because the magpie is limited in distribution and highly susceptible to the virus, this could push it over the edge.”
UC Davis scientists have asked the state Department of Fish and Game to convene a panel of experts to help prevent the potential loss of the magpies, found primarily in Central California, the epicenter of bird deaths in the state.
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Joe Robinson
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