I believe Wes is correct and I should add that this bacterium can be spread by contact. The implication here is that we should be cleaning our feeders often and then treating them with a 10% bleach solution. Let that air dry and do not rinse.
Over the last 25 years we saw a rise and then fall in House Finch infection with some indication of individuals recovering from stage three which is total involvement bilaterally. During the peak we documented infection on three other species including American Goldfinch. Such presentations were exceedingly uncommon in comparison to the HOFI numbers. The whole thing is most probably due to, or exacerbated by the almost straight line genetics of the east coast HOFI population. John -- John and Sue Gregoire Field Ornithologists Kestrel Haven Avian Migration Observatory 5373 Fitzgerald Road Burdett,NY 14818-9626 Website: http://www.empacc.net/~kestrelhaven/ "Conserve and Create Habitat" -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
