Yes, several of my feeder birds seem to be carriers, but House Finches only.
I assumed it was avian pox.

Randy Hill
Othello
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joanne H. Powell" <jhpowell at iea.com>
To: "Tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>; "Inland Northwest"
<inland-NW-birders at uidaho.edu>
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2002 6:00 a
Subject: finch eye disease


> Hi, all:
>
> Thanks to Joel Levin for the NY Times article on the mycoplasma. I've
> noticed a large outbreak of the disease at my feeders this year. Every
year
> I may see one or two infected birds but this year it's an epidemic. I've
> cleaned the feeders and shoveled clean snow on top of the area on the
ground
> where sunflower seeds (the only thing I put in feeders, outside of suet)
are
> dropped out of the feeders. But it's too soon to tell if it has made any
> difference. It may only be a coincidence but this is the first year I have
> spread food on the ground. It's the first year I've had a large number of
> quail (40-50) come by 2 or 3 times a day at least. I buy scratch (a
> combination of cracked corn and millet) and spread it on the ground some
> distance from the feeders. I rarely see finches feeding on the scratch;
it's
> almost always the quail, juncos, song sparrows and the local N. flicker.
Has
> anyone else in eastern WA experienced an upswing in the eye disease? I
keep
> watching to see if it shows up in any other species but none, so far.
>
> Regards, Joanne
> Reardan (Spokane) WA
> mailto: jhpowell at iea.com
>