10/03/2023
YES IT IS POSITIVE FOR WEST NILE, FIRST REPORTED DEAD BIRD IN SLO COUNTY FOR WEST NILE. SINCE THIS BIRD, ANOTHER WAS FOUND IN ATASCADERO (Different address from first one here) AND NOW ON IT'S WAY TO BE TESTED.
This bird showed up on the evening of September 2, 2023. It was on my porch and had a piece of food in it's beak, but not eating it. The little thing was frozen, seemed a bit off. It even tucked his head under his wing, hmm.
Final straw was the field cats looked at the bird and walked around the little thing. The cats would not go near it?! Odd, but I have seen this behavior before. I know cats are actually scared of scrub jays, I have seen that, so perhaps they were scared of the bird. So got a little shoe box poked holes in it, and gently put this bird into it, doing my best not to touch it or cause further trauma to this little scrub Jay. Added a small dish of water, put it in my truck and tented blankets around it. Called Pacific Wild life for pick up next day. But in morning this soul was gone.
Pacific Wild life said probably cats. I told them I thoroughly looked over the bird with gloves on, no scratch, no puncture wounds NOTHING. (I do have a science math background and worked in labs, but they insisted it was a wound from cat and bacteria killed the bird, blah,blah, blah....
So I made a report to CALIFORNIA WEST NILE And prepared bird for pick up.
So sorry Pacific Wildlife you thought it was the cats, guess you were wrong and jumped to conclusions a bit too fast.
