🚀 go-pugleaf

Adam Finkelstein wrote:
> 
> In article <39E6DC33.F2E9F4E9@clark.net>,
> Tiny Human Ferret  <klaatu@clark.net> wrote:
> >
> >This is a reasonable question. I have to point out that since it appears to
> >be 100 percent fatal to the North American Crow, someone might have data on
> >crow populations and/or rapid declines or die-offs of uncertain origin. It
> >might well have been around for a while, and have simply had an uncommonly
> >potent strain circulating in NYC last year. Most people are relatively
> >unaffected.
> 
> Yes. Or, nobody has noticed the Crow population until just recently. Those 'lil
> viruses can change quite suddenly.

Actually, I have been noticing the crow populations, though not exactly
doing head counts. Through most of the last decade or so, there's been a
major winter-over site in Rockville, slightly different place each year but
generally not far from Randolph Road and MD Route 355. Last winter, around
sundown, one would see all of the crows converging on the region along the
Rock Creek valley, sure were a lot of them. But I doubt I'll be able to look
and compare this year, since I'd be waking up early for work at that time.
There are crows around, I haven't exactly seen piles of dead crows
everywhere...

> 
> >Oh, so how are the bees?
> 
> Good. Thank goodness they aren't more closely related to Dipterans like
> the little _Culex spp. Then maybe we'd lose pollinating nectar collectors
> in the name of Public Health.

As if we had any to spare.

> 
> Insects don't mess around. Trying to eradicated them completely from the
> habitat has never worked well. Knee-jerk spraying usually ends up doing
> nothing for Public Health.

I agree. Probably finding a nice predator for their larval stage would be a
better idea.

> 
> Adam
> --
> Adam Finkelstein
> adamf@radix.net
> http://www.ibiblio.org/bees/adamf

--
Be kind to your neighbors, even though they be transgenic chimerae.