Hello Tweeters,

I've also seen a relatively high number of sick Pine Siskins at my feeders
over the last 6-8 weeks. I've seen three puffed-up little guys recently, and
found one dead near the feeder. Two years ago, during a particularly bad cold
spell, I counted nine dead Siskins. I find that only my local Siskins go
through this yearly, with varying degrees of severity. I haven't noticed this
in my other birds. My usual Siskin visitor count is about 24 a day. And I've
also worked hard to keep the feeders clean and free of old, decomposing seed &
hulls.

for your information,
Shannon, Whidbey Island, NW of Seattle (zone 7)

S. Downes wrote:

> Tweets,
> Prior to the CBC, I was notified by a friend in Kingston that at a feeder
> near kingston that perhaps as many as a dozen siskins had dropped dead
> with symptoms very similar those those described. The person did clean her
> feeders but I still heard of a few deaths. A few days before the CBC
> (12/19) the flock that had been estimated at 350-400 in her yard mostly
> left and only 25-50 were remaining so I cannot say whether the mortalities
> stopped or just shifted to another feeder. This was before the cold snap
> hit. I would be very curious as to speculations of disease that might be
> infecting these finches.
> One obvious answer of she did not clean her feeder throughly, I do not
> think applies here as I asked what process she went through and it was
> sufficient enough to kill the feeder pathogens I'm aware of. And obviously
> the cold was not a factor as this was early December before the cold hit.
> Thank you for any suggestions,
>
> Scott Downes
> sdownes at u.washington.edu
> Seattle WA
>
> "Birds don't read bird books. (That's why they are seen doing things they
> are not supposed to do)." -Mary Wood