By Jessica Bock
Wausau Daily Herald
December 19, 2002

Conservationists are worried about central Wisconsin bird populations after bouts of West Nile Virus this summer and reports of fewer birds at feeders this season. They’re waiting for National Audubon Society volunteers to complete this year’s annual Christmas Bird Count. The Wausau Bird Club coordinates the local count and still is compiling the results from the event held Saturday.

The annual list, which tracks what kind of birds are seen and where, intrigues local wildlife experts for the changes it reflects in the bird populations, and this year it could tell just how hard West Nile hit the area.

“It’s a tense time for us,” said Marge Gibson, executive director of the Raptor Education Group Inc., a nonprofit bird rehabilitation, education, and research center in Antigo.

It will be especially important this year for residents feeding birds in their yard to keep feeders well-stocked and clean, because some birds recovering from West Nile Virus have weak immune systems and are more susceptible to getting sick, she said.

The effect of the virus, which is thought to be mosquito-borne, was seen mostly in raptors in central Wisconsin. Gibson saw the effects of West Nile first hand when she cared for several infected raptors this summer as the virus crept through the Midwest and into the Northwoods.

Crows here weren’t affected by West Nile as much as they were in other parts of the Midwest, Gibson said. If smaller songbirds were infected, it’s hard for wildlife officials to know because the dead birds are less visible in the woods.

Lynn Ott, president of the Wausau Bird Club and an avid bird feeder, is seeing fewer birds at her feeder and spotted fewer in the count. “In general, numbers just seem to be down,” said Ott, who spends about $20 a month on bird feed for her yard.

Some attribute the lack of birds at feeders to a lack of snow on the ground.

“There’s plenty of food and foliage uncovered in the woods right now for them to survive,” said Gary Raasch, assistant manager of Marathon Town and Country Store, at 1300 W. Campus Drive in Wausau, where bird feed sales are down about 10 percent. “People will see the birds when we see snow.”