About a month ago, one of the Tweeters list members sent me copies of a few
notes (knowing I'm not on the list but interested in the subject) involving
House Finches with assorted lesions and growths. Sadly, I'm only now getting
to read them and coming up with this reply.

A number of the postings raised the question of whether this was the same
conjunctivitis disease that had been known in the eastern US for the past few
years - a disease which I may have the dubious distinction of having been the
first person to ever see. And because I found myself - at the time a "humble
birdfeeder" (still am) - in the middle of this breaking crisis, with everyone
from federal and state wildlife officials, private avian disease specialists
and so on all coming to me looking for specimens to test - I got to know a
good many of these people very well and kept up with their findings.
Eventually, I put it all together and onto a web site, which some of you may
want to have a look at, especially if you have swollen-eyed house finches in
your yard or deal with them as rehabilitators or researchers. Here's the
address:

House Finch Conjunctivitis
http://members.aol.com/FinchMG/Home.htm

Having said all of this - I also know that the chances are, the disease
currently being seen in the Pacific Northwest is not the same one spreading
throughout the eastern US. I base that soley on the fact that the Cornell
Labs is and has been tracking the diseases spread through its Project
FeederWatch House Finch Study - which, last I heard, they had not tracked much
farther than the Great Plains states. It's not impossible that it might have
reached the PNW, but if it has - no one has reported it to Cornell or, as far
as I know, to the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, the federal
agency monitoring developments with this disease.

Also, from the descriptions I have read of the disease affecting finches in
the PNW, it sounds to me more like a strain of avian pox. From what I know
about avian pox (and, to be honest, that's not a whole lot), the chief reason
it sounds like these finches have pox is because the descriptions talk about
growths and foot deformities (among other things). Avian pox, the "visible"
type that is, primarily affects unfeathered areas on a birds body: around the
eyes, beak, feet and legs, and anywhere the feather covering is not very
dense. The main reason for that is - according to the Cornell Lab - pox is
primarily an insect-borne disease - such as mosquitoes. (However, the NWHC
also says it can be spread by contaminated feeders and by contact among
birds.) Such insects obviously go after exposed skin, thus producing pox
growths seen on feet, legs, around the beak or eyes, etc.

Another reason I suspect those of you who have seen such finches are dealing
with pox is because back in Dec. 1991, the USF&WS issued a bulletin that there
was in progress an avian pox outbreak in house finches specifically having
started in the PNW and having spread south and east. One of the things it
briefly mentioned was that there were different strains of pox, ones that - if
I read it correctly - were species specific, meaning house finches might come
down with it, but perhaps not other birds at the same feeder(s). It also noted
that not much was known about the different strains of pox and one thing I
wonder, again being a humble birdfeeder, is whether there might even be
different strains of pox affecting individual birds. I say that because the
only picture I have seen of a finch with avian pox (which is from a NWHC
brochure and which they allowed me to use on my web site) does not look much
like the other cases of pox-like symptoms I have seen or heard about.

The primary visual difference between the conjunctivitis disease (Mycoplasma
gallisepticum, or "MG") in the eastern US and finches with pox-like symptoms
near or around the eye is that MG makes a finch look like, in most cases,
someone hauled off and punched the finch in the eye (in bad cases) or like it
has really bad allergies (in the early stages). The eyelids are swollen and
watery, if not crusted over. There are no wart-like growths common to pox.
There can be secondary infections which might develop as the bird tries to rub
its eyes, causing infection to the side of the face, but ordinarily only the
eyelids and conjunctive eye tissues are involved. I have lots of pictures on
my web site - if you haven't eaten recently (actually, they are more
heartbreaking than revolting), you might want to have a look.

In any case, whether waht some of you are seeing is MG, or avian pox, or a new
strain of avian pox, or even some other unknown disease entirely, the only way
to know for sure what these finches have is if someone gets their hands on one
or more of them and has them tested. That's something you'd probably need to
discuss with your local or state wildlife office (e.g., how to safely catch
one of these birds, how to arrange to have it properly tested, etc.). I do
know that, assuming any of you happen to see finches that look just like the
ones on my MG web site, the National Wildlife Health Center has MG test kits
which a good avian vet could try to obtain from them and administer. My web
site has the NWHC's address, etc., if you need it.

If any of you want to contact me, remember I'm not on the Tweeter's list --
you'll have to send it directly to my email address (CmdrJaycee at aol.com) or
you can use the email link on my web site.

I hope you found some of this helpful - and even if you are certain your
finches don't have MG, you might still want to visit my web site because it
goes into the possible role of feeders in the spread of disease in general, as
well as other feeder hygiene issues. And, who knows? - a finch with MG may
one day show up at your feeders and, having visited my web site, you'll know
what it looks like and you'll be the first one in your state to report it to
Cornell!

;-) (<- that's a wink, not a swollen eye.)

- Jim Cook
Germantown, MD
CmdrJaycee at aol.com
http://members.aol.com/FinchMG/Home.htm