This time of year, redpolls and siskins are vulnerable to salmonella. This disease, caused by a soil-borne bacteria, is pretty common in ground feeders, especially when thawing and new snow and more thawing are the order of the day. Cleaning out feeders and raking the ground are helpful in limiting the number of birds that become sick, because the droppings of the sick birds can be especially dangerous. Fortunately, as Shawn saw, some individuals are far more vulnerable than others. Sadly, this disease is especially likely to be found in these confiding winter finches that feed so closely together and pick up seeds off the ground.
It's natural, but nevertheless extremely sad. Best, Laura Erickson On Sat, Apr 4, 2009 at 9:48 AM, Shawn Conrad <[email protected]> wrote: > Recently, I found 2 disabled redpolls and 1 dead one in my yard. I > thought I may have been dealing with window strikes or other injuries, > but then late on Thursday, another observer (Courtney Kerns) from > Grand Rapids noted multiple sick redpolls in more than one location. > > Early yesterday morning, I took down all of the feeders, and because I > was not going to be around long in the morning, I shoveled a heap of > snow on top of each pile of seed litter to keep them away until I > could clean it well, which I plan on doing today if the snow crust > allows. While I was out there, I found 4 sick redpolls, at least 2 of > them completely unable to fly. They appeared bloated, had feathers > missing from their wings, obvious feather loss on the rump, and were > breathing very hard...looked like panting. They seemed to be > oblivious to my presence. Courtney noted that the sick birds were > females, and now that I think about it, it does seem like those in my > yard were females. > > Also, I remember a few days ago having one unusually tame Pine Siskin > under the feeder. In hindsight, this bird was likely sick as well. > The other usual visitors seem fine, which maybe indicates that > contaminated seed and suet isn't a culprit. > > I plan on posting to the MOU listserv to 1) let others know to watch > for this, 2) see if anyone has the expertise to attempt a 'diagnosis' > and can provide additional guidance or maybe even say whether the > likely affliction is avian-only or something like salmonella that > would warrant taking personal precautions. > > For now, the squirrels and chickadees are bouncing from shepherd's > crook to shepherd's crook wondering why the gravy train left the > station. I don't plan on rehanging the feeders until I've soaked them > in bleach solution and until the redpolls have pretty much hit the > road. > > Courtney provided these links: > > > http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/publications/fact_sheets/coping_with_diseases_at_birdfeeders.jsp > > http://birding.about.com/od/birdconservation/a/spreadillness.htm > > -- > Shawn Conrad > http://users.2z.net/itasca_chippewa_birding/ > > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html > -- Laura Erickson Twin Beaks! www.twinbeaks.blogspot.com iTunes podcast of For the BIrds http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=288123640 For the love, understanding, and protection of birds There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter. --Rachel Carson Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
