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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
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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