Hi folks,

Saw the thread regarding finches with conjunctivitis. I've not (yet) seen any affllicted finches
here at my west Olympia feeder. I did re-trap a Song Sparrow this morning that had a bad case
of the pox.

I first caught the bird on 4-10-94, and recaptured it on 5-8-94 as a breeding adult male. Didn't
see him again until last spring, when, on 8 March '97, he was re-captured with "pox on both feet"
When I caught him again today, he still had the swollen, crusty tumors of fowl pox.

I rarely catch sparrows or juncos that have the disease; House Finches are the usual victims.
Some house finches I've handled have had the swelling and lesions not only on their feet, but on
their face or head as well. One female HOFI that I caught one year had her eye involved with
the pox lesions a year later. I captured her in the 2 subsequent years with the injury healed over
(she was blind in the one eye...), but in breeding condition - with a fully developed brood patch!

Oh - I didn't capture and band it, but a *neat* bird at the front feeder this morning was a tan-
striped White-throated Sparrow.

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net