Sick Or Injured Blue Jay

  I came home from posting at the library and thought I saw movement as I opened the gate at the lane. I walked over and there was a blue jay hiding by flattening himself under some tall grass. I wanted to give him a chance so I walked away and observed him scuttling away along the side of the garage. The next day, I went back and found his body. He had apparently been feeding where I put out bird seed, corn, and dog kibble. It's a very popular spot with the cardinals, the ground and mourning doves, and the blue jays. I took the jay and threw him onto the side of the lane where  opossums and feral cats roam at night. As soon as I did that, I remembered that the county's sentinel chickens had just picked up the West Nile virus. Worried that the jay died of that or some other avian flu, I compulsively washed my hands for a while. I could see nothing grossly wrong with the jay when I picked him up and wonder about the cause of his death. It is the first death I've seen at my feeding station which I have had for a few years.
  I waited a few days before discussing Tessa's death with Bulletproof. She admitted she had been hit extra hard by the death of this dog. When you have thirty dogs, death comes all too often. She thinks the cause of death was stomach cancer and says there are types of cancer that do not cause a high white blood count.
  If you or a friend has a bigfoot or black panther sighting,  please call me at 352-359-0850. Thanks, Two-Guns.