Something to crow about

We had another strong frost again last night but that's not the most significant thing that happened (or maybe it is). I was outside mowing this afternoon when I spotted a dead bird, a large black crow, just across my property line in the town park next door. I'm pretty sure he wasn't there yesterday or I would have noticed. Nor was he scavenged or decomposed that I could tell (from a healthy distance). Last night's cold must have put him in the deep freeze.

Since we've all heard about how West Nile virus often shows up in birds, I decided to notify someone. First, I called the Town of Abingdon but got directed to a department that was only interested (to put it mildly) in removing the carcass from the park, as if I were reporting a litter problem. I decided to push further and called the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VGDIF), the state wildlife agency. They directed me to the extension of their staff veterinarian but his voicemail said he's out of the office for two weeks and not checking messages. Finally, I got some results from the Washington County Health Department where I reached Scott Honnaker who was very helpful. He called their Richmond office to confirm that they are still testing for West Nile, even though it's late enough that the mosquito population that carries this disease is mostly dead or dormant. With last night's freeze, there was a good chance that the tissues were still preserved enough for testing. Unfortunately, on a Friday afternoon, they had no one to come collect it until Monday. My wife (and me too, I must admit) wasn't too keen on keeping a potential biohazard bird in our freezer over the weekend so we struck a deal. I carefully bagged and delivered the crow to the Southwest Virginia Department of Health Lab (just down the street by the hospital) where they will freeze it over the weekend and send it to Richmond on Monday for testing.

UPDATE: I never heard a word, despite calling a couple of times to inquire about the results. I guess that means everything is ok.