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Stephen Ross
Rodney, MI, United States
Possible first record of a Purple Finch with hofi/amgo eye disease??? This bird has been acting sick for about a week. If I can find the body when it dies, does Cornell want it? I have a state and federal salvage permit through Univ of Michigan as a subpermitee.
Eye problems
Female purple finch with hofi/amgo eye disease, Feb 5, 2017. Has been observed as a sick-ish bird for about a week but this is the first day I was certain it had the eye disease.
Dear Stephen, Thanks for reporting this and submitting some photographs of a purple finch with severe conjunctivitis. Although purple finches are reported less frequently with conjunctivitis caused by Mycoplasma gallisepticum than house finches this is not rare. The first confirmed case was reported by Barry Hartup in his study in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases 36 (2): 257–264 in . 2000. doi: 10.7589/0090-3558-36.2.257 The full title of his papers is: Mycoplasmal conjunctivitis in songbirds from New York. B K Hartup , G V Kollias, D H Ley.
Stephen, I saw your post while reading 2021-2022 updates around Michigan. Were you able to get that Purple Finch tested? Looks more like Finch Trichomonosis, which has been devastating to Purple Finches in the past. Just curious what you found out.
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