Sick Bird: House Finch Eye disease
Additional images:
Back in the summer, I had a female house finch that I walked up on without flying and it looked like her eye had been injured but now I’m seeing several house finches so started researching on what could be going on so I’m wondering if you can tell by looking at these pictures if it is house finch eye disease. I clean my feeders just about everytime I refill them but not with bleach and water so I’m planning on doing that and leaving them down for a week but wouldn’t everyone in the neighborhood need to do the same thing. Also should I report it to someone and if so who. Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Categories: Eye problems
Comments
6 comments on “Sick Bird: House Finch Eye disease”
Hi Brenda, I’m pretty sure that it is House Finch Eye Disease. Nobody else in the neighborhood has to do this unless they start to see sick birds at their feeders.
I’m not sure if there’s anyone you can report it to. Poor little finches!
I just saw a Goldfinch with swollen closed eyes, unable to fly very well seen in my yard in Snohomish, WA on Feb. 11, 2023. What should I do? I can’t find anywhere to report this or ask questions. Very sad…
Hello, Thank you for your concern about sick birds. We are only able to collect eye disease data from Project FeederWatch participants, who submit reports of eye disease along with their regular counts. You can learn more about eye disease and Project FeederWatch on our website.
Whenever a sick bird comes to your feeder, we recommend that you remove the feeders the sick bird is using for a couple of weeks to ensure that disease is not being spread at your feeders. While the feeders are down, clean them thoroughly with a diluted bleach solution or very hot water, rinse them, and let them dry completely. Once you put the feeders back up, be sure to clean them every week or two. If sick birds return, avoid using feeders with ports that birds put their heads into and clean your feeders at least weekly. Find information about how to clean your feeders on our website.
You are welcome to count birds for FeederWatch that are attracted to any feeders you keep up or to water features or plantings that you maintain in your count site. If you remove all your feeders for most of a month, you can indicate the months of the year when you have feeders up on the site description form, found in the Manage Count Sites section of the Your Data section of our website or by tapping the Site Description icon in the mobile app. Be sure that the feeders indicated on the site description form reflect what you had in your count site for the majority of your counts.
If you are participating in Project FeederWatch and would like to share your photos, you can submit them to our Sick Birds gallery by clicking on the “Share a photo of a sick or injured bird” button near the bottom of the Your Data home page.
I am observing female House Finch eye disease. They are washing their faces in my fountain.
Steve Afdahl
Temecula, CA
Hello Steve, I’m sorry to hear you are observing sick birds at your fountain. If it is possible, and if you are not doing so already, you may want to freshen your water more frequently and wash out anything used by sick birds. You can find more details on Sick Birds and Bird Diseases here: https://feederwatch.org/learn/sick-birds-and-bird-diseases/
I refill my birdbaths 2 or 3 times a day