house finches

["Leslie LOEFFEL" <lloeffel at weber dot edu>]

Hello BirdTalk participants,

I am getting about the same number of finches at my feeders as in past
years (about 20 at a time). But because I've recently started
participating in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's House Finch Disease
Survey, I've started looking closely at them, and I've been surprised to
find how many house finches are unhealthy.   About 5-10% have growths of
some kind.  

Most of these growths seem to be avian pox (wartlike growth on bare
areas--above or below the beak is what I've seen most).  But I've also
had a few birds who may have Mycoplasmal conjunctivitis (swollen red
eye, may have greasy feathers near eye, squinty or closed eye).  This
disease is just reaching the west, and Cornell is studying its spread.  

There's information on both conjunctivitis and avian pox (which is a
fairly common western disease) at
http://birds.cornell.edu/hofi/abtdisease.html.  If anyone is interested
in signing up for the House Finch Disease Survey, I would recommend
doing so.  There aren't many observors in Utah, and more are needed.  

Leslie Loeffel
Fruit Heights

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