I don't have any information for you. However, I was
at Shoreline Community College on Wednesday evening
and heard a huge murder of crows making a ruckus.
Thinking they might be pestering an owl or an eagle, I
went to investigate. When I got to the corner they
were at (they were in the trees and flying, at least
5-6 dozen), the only thing I found was a crow that
looked like it had been hit by a car, but wasn't quite
dead. It was everything but dead though, and I used a
Seattle Weekly to turn it over, and noticed that all
of the feathers were gone on the back of its head. It
wasn't from any automobile damage, I know that. Not
knowing what is was from though, I didn't touch it
anymore. I didn't like seeingit suffer, as I like
crows, so I dispatched it with a rock, and got
dive-bombed by some of the crows as I left.

The purpose of this is to ask any of our other fellow
birders if there could be a connection between the two
species, as faras some biological problem; ie mites or
some kind of bird mange or something. Thanks for any
information or replies.

Brett A. wolfe
gismybabe at yahoo.com
Seattle, WA

--- Bruce Moorhead <bruceb at olypen.com> wrote:
> FYI, I observed a male Spotted Towhee this morning
> below my tube-feeder with
> the feathers gone over the entire crown and sides of
> its head. It otherwise
> seemed in OK health, did not appear lethargic, and
> was eating discarded
> sunflower seeds on the ground just below the
> tube-feeder when observed. Any
> information (or contacts) about what such feather
> loss might indicate be
> would be appreciated; e.g., scabies mites? Also,
> anything about its
> occurrence and incidence rate. I've not observed
> such feather loss before in
> any other birds using the feeder. Other species at
> the feeder at about the
> same included: Black-headed Grosbeaks, Evening
> Grosbeaks, White-crowned
> Sparrows, House Finches, R-Br Nuthatches, and Ch-B
> Chickadees. The feeder
> contains unwashed, black-oil sunflower seeds. A few
> minutes later, I also
> observed another male Spotted Towhee which had no
> sign of feather loss, etc.
> I've cleaned and disinfected the feeder in the past
> month.
>
> Bruce Moorhead
> Port Angeles, WA
> bruceb at olypen.com
>
>


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