Hello Tweeters!

I have an unusual visitor to my backyard feeder: a humpty-back female house
finch.

I saw her first on Feb 13th, when I looked out at the feeder and saw what
looked like a bird (with its back to me) with a single downy feather
sticking straight up out of its head. Eventually, a profile view revealed
that what I initially took for her head, was in fact a "head-sized" bump
between her shoulder blades - presumably an abscess acquired from after
some sort of a narrow escape. I didn't see her again for several days, and
I assumed that she'd died.

However, she has reappeared 3 or 4 times since then - always on her own
after the evening rush of juncos at the feeder. This week she has been a
regular visitor, coming in with the other house finches, and even seems to
have an interested male in tow. Seems I have fretted needlessly over her
:-) Her bump has flattened somewhat, and is now roughly about half the
"height" of her head, but the same diameter.

Does anyone out there know if an abscess would have drained by now? Could
it be a tumor? Are tumors very commonly seen now in birds?

Thanks for any info.

Victoria

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Victoria Otton
email: sotton at sfu.ca
phone: (604) 937-5379