Biff Thiele looks out his Glenview window and sees fewer and fewer crows. No crows, in fact, this week.
For some residents, this would be reason to rejoice.
But for Thiele, a retired builder and a crow crusader, the apparent effect of the West Nile virus is cause for alarm.
Thiele, an animal lover who helped save Wagner Farm’s Bart the Bull from the slaughterhouse, recently drove 167 miles in his Buick scouting for crows across the north suburbs.
“If mosquitoes were a little bigger, these would be people we would be talking about,” said Thiele, who has raised baby crows. He once even painted a big X on a white Volkswagen so a feathered friend could follow him in traffic.
“You walk out in the morning and it’s dead quiet out there,” he said somberly.
Illinois Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologists say they believe the number of crows has dipped slightly in the past few years, but they do not do a formal census.
The West Nile virus “is having an effect on birds, crows and blue jays in particular,” said Bob Massey, a biologist based in Wilmington. “Whether it’s having a severe impact that will make long-range problems for the crows, we don’t know.”
Massey said crows are abundant because they are clever and are able to live alongside humans. They would be missed in the ecosystem because of their scavenging and bug-eating tendencies, he said.
“They’re doing a lightweight vulture-type service,” said Massey, who suggests the crows are “staging” or gathering in different communities as they prepare to migrate south. “They do have their little place in the world.”
Thiele was so concerned, he e-mailed more than 200 people across the country, asking them to conduct informal surveys. Some shared his unease. Then there were the others:
“I think they all moved to Cape Cod. We have hundreds of crows. Just let me know if you want them back,” wrote one couple in Yarmouth, Mass.
“The Glenview crows are not all dead, they moved to Des Plaines for lower property taxes,” wrote a man from Wheeling.
Anti-gossip ordinance: Also out of Glenview, the Village Board voted 4-2 Tuesday against a proposal to impose a $500 penalty against people who leak information from executive sessions of village boards and commissions.
“You can’t stop gossip,” said Trustee John Crawford, who rejected the proposed amendment to the ethics ordinance, calling it unnecessary.
Village Board President Larry Carlson suggested the penalty, citing instances in which he believes confidential information had been shared illegally outside the closed-door sessions.
In one case, a newspaper letter to the editor discussed a proposal to buy land for a new fire station.
Northfield team walks: Nancy Seabury of Northfield, whose husband died of the neuromuscular disease ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, will be among the participants raising money in the first Chicago-based Walk to D’Feet ALS on Sept. 14.
Registration for the 2-mile walk begins at 9 a.m. at Montrose Harbor in Chicago. The goal is to raise $150,000 locally.
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