On a warm, breezy day in Oak Lawn, veterinary graduate student Jessica Girard of the University of Wisconsin-Madison removed a robin from a finely threaded net hidden in the shadows of a tree-lined meadow.
Gently, she extended its wings to check for emerging feathers and look for parasites. She took measurements, noting patterns in the feathers indicating the robin’s age. Her fingers traced its orange chest, feeling along the bone for telltale fat deposits that signal a healthy bird.
Girard needed a blood sample from the robin to test the strength of its immune system, and she had to work quickly, before the bird’s stress weakened its immune response. She moved feathers from the bird’s neck, baring translucent skin colored with fine blood vessels. Whispering soothing words, she drew her sample with a needle.
In all, Girard and her colleagues would catch and test four robins, a sparrow, a cardinal and a blue jay this morning as part of a research effort aimed at understanding why certain neighborhoods in the Chicago area are “hot spots” for the West Nile virus.