Summary: New research shows one key to curtailing West Nile disease may lie in increasing the diversity of birds. John Swaddle (College of William and Mary) says attracting a variety of birds to your back yard may actually lower your chance of getting the disease. Also featured: Ann and Rob Simpson (Lord Fairfax Community College) are biologists who also happen to be a professional husband-and-wife wildlife photography team whose work has taken them from Yosemite National Park to Madagascar. Their books on the national parks promote ecological use of natural habitats and environmental stewardship. And: Dick Rowe (Virginia Military Institute) says birds can alert other birds not only to the degree of danger present but also what kind of threat is out there. Later in the show: From potable water to the forgotten impact of things like weather and horses on the outcome of the war, With Good Reason brings you highlights from the 2011 Signature Conference of the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission. Some of the country’s most eminent Civil War scholars including James Robertson Jr. (Virginia Tech), William C. Davis (Virginia Tech) and equine specialist John M. Bowen discuss the forgotten elements of the conflict.
