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Casey Girard
Redwood City, CA, USA
This year I have noticed a large uptick in sick American Goldfinches. They have gotten sick at a much high rate than I have seen ever. I have been cleaning my feeders daily or taking them down for a week or two at a time. I do not put up nyjer at all anymore. The American Goldfinches keep showing up with Salmonella and then this one showed up with its eyes a mess. It has been concerning and unusual. 2-3 House Finches have shown symptoms, but not a significant number. They show symptoms of salmonella. As sick birds show up everything is taken down and cleaned.
Sick behavior
Category: Sick behavior
American Goldfinches are disproportionally affected by disease this year. This one has eye disease
I had an american goldfinch fly close to my backdoor last night and perch on my outside light. Very unusual behavior. Then I noticed about an hour later it was asleep on the ground near the back door so I left it alone. Then this morning I found it dead. Upon close observation I noticed a growth on its right foot. I have feeders and usually feed sunflower chips or a finch food with nijer. My feeders are always cleaned after use, and I have enough of them that I switch them out. So each one will be used once a month.
have gold finch with eye disease in wash dc suburb
American Gold finch with eye disease, short of removing feeders what else can I do to protect them?
Hello Charlene, thanks for reaching out! Here is our webpage about Sick Birds and Diseases and what steps you can take if you see a sick bird: https://feederwatch.org/learn/sick-birds-and-bird-diseases/
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