Volume 12, Number 8—August 2006
Dispatch
West Nile Virus Epizootiology, Central Red River Valley, North Dakota and Minnesota, 2002–2005
Jeffrey A. Bell*, Christina M. Brewer*, Nathan J. Mickelson*, Gabriel W. Garman*, and Jefferson A. Vaughan*
Table 1
Prevalence of antibodies against West Nile virus (WNV) in 11 species of passerine birds sampled within the central Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota during 2003, 2004, and 2005
| Common name | Scientific name | % birds with antibodies to WNV (n) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | ||
| American crow | Corvus brachyrhynchos | – | 33 (6) | 50 (6) |
| American robin | Turdis migratorius | 18 (17) | 50 (6) | 38 (26) |
| Brown-headed cowbird | Molothrus ater | – | – | 17 (6) |
| Blue jay | Cyanocitta cristata | 50 (4) | – | 87 (8) |
| Brewer's blackbird | Euphagus cyanocephalus | – | – | 33 (3) |
| Common grackle | Quiscalus quiscula | 0 (11) | 71 (14) | 63 (67) |
| Eastern kingbird | Tyrannus tyrannus | – | – | 100 (3) |
| European starling | Sturnus vulgaris | – | 100 (2) | 67 (3) |
| Gray catbird | Dumetella carolinensis | – | 75 (4) | – |
| House sparrow | Passer domesticus | 20 (45) | – | 50 (2) |
| Red-winged blackbird | Agelaius phoeniceus | 0 (5) | 50 (20) | 63 (19) |
| Total | 17.1 (82) | 57.7 (52) | 57.3 (143) | |
