Good point. Does this tend to favor feeders with pegs and without trays?

And yes, love the rain. We're having a soaker of a day here, so wet that
the odd Californian can be seen going from incognito to berserk here and
there. Tomorrow I'm headed out to the west side of the O. Peninsula
(boyhood home of Dixie Lee Ray), to the Hoh for rain bathing and to suck
some moss. We fold out our lounge chairs and let it soak in (to our wet
suits). The Hoh River is
nice because the clouds are always so low and close. Plus, there's
steelhead in there, of course. We'll look for Dippers and Wood Ducks.

Jack Kintner kintner at nas.com good ol' Blaine


At 11:57 AM 3/15/01 -0800, you wrote:
>There has been much discussion about the cleaning of bird feeders to prevent
>contagious diseases, and of course I think this is important when feeding
>birds in general (at least I assume it is; I don't know how much science
>backs up this belief). However, I'm fairly convinced that it isn't the
>answer to the siskin/salmonella problem. Any time an infected siskin visits
>your feeder and defecates in the seed tray, it is a potential source of
>infection for any other siskin that feeds in the same place. As they
>typically come in flocks and displace one another regularly, numerous
>siskins will partake of the infected feeding spot. And sick siskins tend to
>feed for long periods, so they will surely leave deposits while taking their
>seed withdrawals. Thus even if you cleaned the feeder every day, I think
>there would be a substantial probability of infection.
>
> >From my limited knowledge base, I would repeat that I think this is much
>more of a problem with siskins than other birds. Juncos and House Finches
>have regularly fed at our thistle feeder, yet I have seen no apparently sick
>individuals of these species (although I know salmonella has been found in
>other finches).
>
>What a rainy day - isn't it great! It ruined an intended birding trip for
>us today, but I won't complain.
>
>Dennis Paulson
>--
>Netta Smith and Dennis Paulson
>1724 NE 98 St.
>Seattle, WA 98115