By Cat Lazaroff

WASHINGTON, DC, February 13, 2003 (ENS) - Armchair birdwatchers will have a special task this weekend: helping biologists to learn what impact the West Nile virus is having on America's wild birds. This weekend's sixth annual Backyard Bird Count will focus on the effects of threats like disease and loss of habitat, and add vital new information to scientific understanding of birds and their environment.

This year's count comes on the heels of a new report identifying more than 100 bird species that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has identified as needing prompt conservation attention to stabilize or increase populations or to secure threatened habitats. Among the new threats facing many U.S. birds is the West Nile virus, which has decimated some bird populations.

The red headed woodpecker - one of many birds threatened by loss of habitat - requires open fields for catching insects, and hollow trees for nesting. (Photo © Ohio Department of Natural Resources)

"The Great Backyard Bird Count has become a important means of gathering data to help birds, but it can't happen unless people take part," added Gill. "Whether you're a novice or an expert, we need you to take part and help us help birds."

Audubon and Cornell are asking participants to pay special attention to the more than 200 species on the Audubon 2002 WatchList, issued last autumn, which lists North American birds in danger or decline. Many of the birds on that list also appear on the USFWS Birds of Conservation Concern 2002 report; of the 151 species on the WatchList that are not listed as either endangered or threatened - or are hunted - 86 are on the USFWS national list and 27 are on regional lists.

"WatchList is an early warning system designed to raise awareness of birds in trouble, before they become endangered or threatened," explained Audubon's Gill. "Think of it as preventative medicine, protecting our great natural heritage."

The GBBC website (http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc) includes features on these dwindling birds, and what participants can do to help them.

Endangered birds like the Attwater's greater prairie chicken could be wiped out by West Nile virus. (Photo by Gary P. Montoya/USFWS)

"We need as many volunteer counters as possible to tell us what they see," said Sally Conyne, Audubon director of special projects. "The GBBC can serve to educate people about the real effects of the disease, and will help our scientists reach a better understanding."

Last week, Audubon and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) hosted a summit in Maryland regarding the spread of West Nile and its potential impacts on birds and other wildlife. The two day workshop, titled "Impacts of West Nile Virus on Wildlife Health," was co-chaired by Peter Marra of SERC and Robert McLean of the National Wildlife Research Center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The summit, cosponsored by the USDA and U.S. Geological Survey, was attended by scientists from many different disciplines. The researchers outlined a series of steps that need to be taken to understand West Nile virus and its effects on people and wildlife.

"West Nile virus is one of the most serious invasive pathogens to enter this country in the past century," said Marra, an animal ecologist at SERC. "This meeting was the first of its kind coordinating government agencies, academic institutions, non-profits, and others to think about West Nile virus and other emerging diseases as threats to wildlife populations. We were able to bring together researchers and scientists to prioritize and coordinate research efforts, and to work to standardize methodologies to determine the effects of this virus on wildlife."

"West Nile has infected more than 100 bird species, and has killed countless numbers of birds and other wildlife," said Audubon's Gill. "The virus adds yet another life threatening challenge to the existence of North American birds at a time when they are under severe stress from other problems."

West Nile virus potentially threatens many endangered species, including scrub jays, whooping cranes, condors, prairie chickens and red-cockaded woodpeckers, to name a few.

Since the virus invaded the U.S. in 1999, it has killed 263 people and infected more than 4,000. Last year's West Nile virus epidemic in humans was the largest ever recorded in the world.

The disease is most commonly transmitted through the bites of infected mosquitoes, although host to host transmission - from human to human or bird to bird - has now been confirmed.

American crows seem particulary susceptible to West Nile Virus (Photo by Peter S. Weber, courtesy USGS)

The extent and impact on wildlife health is difficult to measure and quantify, said Robert McLean of the National Wildlife Research Center. Hundreds of thousands of birds, mammals and reptiles throughout the United States have died.

"West Nile virus appears to be indiscriminate in how it affects groups of organisms," McLean said, "and it is very efficient in what it does."

There are now more than 150 wild bird species, 15 mammal species and one reptile species known infected with the virus in the United States.

"We know that some local bird populations have been affected by West Nile Virus," said Christopher Brand, a wildlife disease scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey. "But on a regional or continent wide basis, we don't know what the long term ramifications are, especially to threatened or endangered species, where even small geographic scale disease outbreaks could be disastrous."

American robins seem to avoid snow covered areas, the GBBC has shown in past years. (Photo courtesy Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

The GBBC combines high tech web tools with an army of "citizen scientist" bird observers. The Count asks families, individuals, classrooms and community groups to count the numbers and kinds of birds that visit their feeders, local parks, schoolyards and other areas during any or all of the four count days - February 14-17, 2003.

Participants enter their observations on the Count website, developed by Audubon and the Cornell Lab. Visitors to that site can watch as counts are posted in near-real time, and learn what birds are being spotted in what parts of the country.

Since the first count in 1998, the GBBC has engaged more than a quarter-million Americans of all ages and backgrounds in the effort to keep common birds common. In 2002, more than 47,000 participants counted millions of birds throughout North America, helping reveal information on evening grosbeaks, snowy owls, collared doves and many other birds.

"We cannot allow other species to face the same fate as the ivory-bill," Fitzpatrick added. "The Great Backyard Bird Count provides a way for citizens to help us determine which birds are where and in what numbers, so we can take steps to protect those that need protecting."

The GBBC site provides useful information to make participation in the count easy and enjoyable. No registration is required, and participation is free to all.

The hermit warbler, a songbird of Western states, appears on the Audubon WatchList 2002 due to its declining numbers. (Photo © George Steele, courtesy National Audubon Society)

The website offers tips on bird watching and bird feeding, sound clips of bird vocalizations and more. Educators may find the bibliography and geography sections handy, along with suggestions on how to conduct the Count with groups of children; and for those tired of winter and ready for spring, there are tips about planning and preparing for the spring bird garden.

For more information on the Great Backyard Bird Count, visit:

  http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/

The USFWS Birds of Concern 2002 list is available at: http://migratorybirds.fws.gov

The National Audubon Society's WatchList 2002 is available at: http://www.audubon.org/bird/watchlist/index.html

For information on the West Nile Virus workshop, visit: http://www.serc.si.edu/migratorybirds/current_events_fin.htm

For the latest information on the human impacts of the virus, visit: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/