Bird Advocates Fear That West Nile Virus Could Silence the Spring

ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND—Ellen Paul is cruising this Washington, D.C., suburb looking for crows. Thousands of the birds once gathered here in raucous roosts every night, but this evening, just three or four are flapping aimlessly above the strip malls as Paul, executive director of The Ornithological Council, a coalition of 10 major bird research groups, peers through her windshield.