Found a dead bird on my porch

[minkydog]

So i walks out the front door and--what is this? a present, for me?? No, it's a dead bird. a brown one. I can't tell if it flew into the door and killed itself or if it has something like West Nile virus. So Mr. Dead Bird is laying on my front porch in the cold night air attracting ants while we wait for morning so I can call my local health department to find out if they want to test it, or if it can go straight nto the can--tomorrow is trash day. either way, i'm not touching it.

 

[Kermit]

I'm glad you called the health department. It's about that time of year again. I think that certain species of birds are supposed be the most likely to get West Nile, but I don't know what they are, and I wouldn't be able to identify a dead bird.

 

[Cindy B]

Around here the dead birds that carry West Nile are crows. These birds are big and black.

 

[Pop Daddy]

dont call the health department, put it in the trash and be done with it

 

[rt2dz]

You're making me feel guilty again. Our dryer wasn't heating yesterday, so I went outside to check the vent and could see it was blocked/had something in it. So, when my DH got home I had him unclog it (I'm 5 months pregnant, very big, and shouldn't be climbing on ladders). Of course he just pulls all the garbage out--a bird's nest, with 3 tiny, tiny baby birds. One landed inside the A/C in a puddle of water, one on top of the A/C, and one on the cement slab holding our A/C units. I tried to put the nest somewhat back in shape in a (clean, untouched by human hands) bucket and save the two birds (using gloves), but I haven't had the heart to go take a look and see what is going on.

 

[minkydog]

I called the local health dept this morning; she took all my info, what kind of bird, where I live, etc. She said just double bag it and throw it away, which I would do,except DD12 caught sight of it, so now we have to have a burial.
We have so many animals buried in my backyard, it looks like the set of "Pet Cemetary."

I normally don't get too worked up about stuff like West Nile virus, unless I find a dead bird 6 niches from my front door. We have had two cases of West Nile virus in my county in the last 2 years, so it's not as if it could never happen. i don't think I'll hit the panic button, but it did unnerve me a little.

 

[chadfromdallas]

So i walks out the front door and--what is this? a present, for me??

The cats back at my mom's house use to bring birds up to the porch for presents. They were such nice kitties, but yuck