Find out what Project FeederWatch is, its history, and more
Find out how you FeederWatch, when you can FeederWatch, and what you'll need to do to get started
Review these instructions carefully before you count and enter data
Find out about types of feeders and types of foods, and where to place your feeder
Feeding Birds FAQs
Explore the winter distribution, food, and feeder preferences of common feeder birds.
Find out about color and plumage variations, bald heads, and deformed bills
Unusual Birds Gallery
Find out about bird disease and identifying the signs of bird disease
Sick Birds Gallery
Find out how to identify birds and download identification tools
Learn how to help birds as they seek out food sources, nesting habitat, protection, and more
Find educational resources for teachers, group leaders, and families
Find an article archive packed with lots of great bird study information
Learn about house finch eye disease
Review content from current and past BirdSpotter photo contests
Keep up to date with the latest FeederWatch happenings
These are exemplary FeederWatchers!
Send us your photos! Show us your count site, your birds, or you watching your site with loved ones!
Visit our live FeederWatch feedercams!
Cornell Lab of Ornithology feeders
Ontario (winter only)
See what birds occur the most by region
Explore species by state/province
See where FeederWatchers are
Graphs of regional population trends and distributions
Explore papers that have used FeederWatch data
Lab scientists analyze the data submitted by FeederWatch participants.
See birds well outside their winter range submitted to Project FeederWatch.
Start here for data entry and personal data review and exploration
Keep live track of your counts using the FeederWatch mobile app
Eve Fields
Vienna, VA, United States
I saw this cardinal at one of my bird feeders today. This is the best picture I could take at the time. Its left eye appears crusted over or shut, and there are some darker feathers on that side of the body.
Eye problems
I saw a young cardinal in the grass below our feeder with left eye crusted closed. It didn’t move when I approached until I got to his right side, his right eye was fine and he spotted me and flew off. I was told to report this case to feederwatch.org. How do I do that? I am in Denton Texas.
Hi Kathleen, Currently the only way you can report sick birds to us here at FeederWatch is by submitting data during the FeederWatch season, which runs from November to April. The project is not active at this time, but we recommend that you please clean your feeders to help prevent the spread of disease. It’s good to scrub all debris from the feeders and soak in a bleach solution at least biweekly. Learn more here.
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