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Bonnie Utzig

Port Washington, NY, United States

Description

Both of these finches were at our feeder today and yesterday. We’ve had finches here since September. This was the first time I saw sickness. I still have difficulty telling a male house finch from a male purple finch, so hopefully the photos will help you determine this.

Category

Eye problems

Sick Finches

This poor little guy was sitting at our feeder yesterday. I thought it was a purple finch though, not a house finch.

3 replies on “Sick finches”

Pam says:

I live in Colorado and am hatching a problem with sick finch at the feeder. They have watery droppings. They appear to be bloated and have ruffled feathers. They are hungry and eat a lot. They rub their breaks on the edge of the feeder. Appear to have respiratory issue. A male appeared to have inflammation in one side of the front of his body.
It appeared to have blind him or impair his vision on that side of his body.

I wish I knew what I could do to help them, besides serializing everything so they don’t spread what they have.

Holly Grant, Project Assistant says:

Hi Pam, when you see a sick bird, we recommend taking feeders down for about a week or so to help the sick bird(s) disperse. While the feeders are down, you should clean them thoroughly – we have more information on this webpage. It’s a good idea to keep to a regular cleaning schedule too – once every 1-2 weeks – to help prevent the spread of disease. We also recommend reaching out to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife, who may be tracking certain diseases in wildlife.

Rose says:

Hi Pam, did you end up finding out what that poor little male finch had? Was it trichomoniasis?
Thank you and have a great day!

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