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economist sunsuntribune environment saturday jan 102004 key to west nile mystery tracking route big help supporters say m bymikeadler staff writer a falcontracking program facing cancella tion in york region could be a big help to humans in the fight against west nile virus sup porters say the canadian peregrine foundation which since 1999 has released peregrine falcons in richmond hill and tracked them by satellite is appealing for money to finish the programs final year the latest of the tracked birds named miriam and richmond were injected with a west nile vaccine before their release last summer the foundation plans to findthem after mating sea son this year and sample their blood to test the vaccines effectiveness by visiting their nest sites and testing off spring researchers can findbut if the endan gered birds pass on antibodies from the vaccine said peregrine foundation president mark nash who this week asked richmond hill council for 60000 to cover the programs testing track ing and other expenses no answers will come quick ly unfortunately local birders meanwhile say crows and chickadees which seemed to be reduced in numbers south of the oak ridges moraine dur- ing christmas bird counts a year ago were seen more frequently this time crows are seen as an early warning species for the virus since they are espe cially prone to catching it and dying in a few days a dec 14 count centred on kleinburg and covering areas west of hwy 400 found crows and chickadees in normal even above- average numbers said bill edmunds past pres ident of the west humber naturalists most groups commented that there were chickadees everywhere he said this week crows missing almost entirely last year have come back quite a bit crows dont necessarily migrate but pere grines do and the foundations research shows they travel as far south as colombia tracking them can help show migration routes the virus will use to spread richmond hill biologist natalie helferty said this month by inoculating birds with vaccine now we may be reducing the virus in future mosquito populations by reducing the spread of the dis ease ms helferty president of the richmond hill naturalists who assist the peregrine founda tion in its york region work said in a message to naturalists and politicians if the disease can spread across the globe so quickly why cant we introduce antibodies to do i the same there are only 41 breeding pairs of peregrines in ontario judi orendorff who co ordinates west nile information for the ministry of natural resources said it would be interesting to see if the vaccine works and that rare or threatened birds could benefit i think its important that we continue to get answers to these ques tions s h said tf taken rabies j vaccine do not spread those antibodies to their off spring he said and although west nile may reduce bird populations in the short term massive fluctuations in those populations are normal weather alone can explain big differences in numbers of birds seen year to year he said york region which had two confirmed human cases of west nile last year found nine crows with the virus in april a speci- men in newmarket was the v first crow in 2003 to test posi- x five for west nile in canada v on orders from the t province however only 54 iu crows of the 925 picked up by the region were sent for testing so the posi- tive crows reported are fi not a true reflection of 4 the number of posi- tive crows through out the region yorks health department x said in a report this js week but dr bruce hunter the university of guelph pro fessor and avian pathologist who inoculated the richmond hill peregrines said no one should risk recapturing and handling wild peregrines because it may disturb mating or nesting he added a study might work with captive birds thats the only way these answers are going to come and dr chris davies the ministrys wildlife research manager and head of the provinces rabies control program doubted antibodies from west nile vaccine could spread through populations of birds pregnant foxes who have lakeonlario legend positive human cases 2003 positive mosquito pools 2003 positive bird cases 2003 beetle news offered to residents if an asian longhorned bee tle crawled out of your woodpile would you spot it concerned the treeboring beetle infesting parts of woodbridge could spread unno ticed throughout york region federal and provincial authori ties will be at meetings here to give residents the latest news on the inchlong whitespeckled black insect we feel its really important that people understand the seri ousness of the threat of this pest said brian peterkin co ordinator of york environmental stewardship a local advisory group for ontarios ministry of natural resources the group hosts free infor mation sessions on the beetles at 7 pm in vaughan jan 22 and in whitchurchstouffville feb 5 attendees will hear from the canadian food inspection agency which is destroying thousands of trees in woodbridge this winter to erase the first known canadian long- horned beetle infestation the beetle which can fly and leaves distinctive holes in hard wood trees was discovered beside a steeles avenue plaza in september years after it arrived in a crate or packing material in the united states infested firewood has spread the beetles to new areas the vaughan meeting is at boyd field centre on islington avenue north of major mackenzie drive the whitchurchstouffville event is at ballantrae community centre on aurora sideroad east of hwy 48 people interested in attending should call 4166616600 ext5660 it v77