I have also noticed similar conditions in House
Finches and American Goldfinches at our feeder in
Albion (near Pullman). I haven't seen actual tumor
like lesions on the House Finches, but some have
puffy, red eyes. I have a not-so-great closeup
picture of a Goldfinch with a rather large tumor, who
I haven't seen around lately, taken around the
beginning of March (e-mail me if interested). I'm not
sure what causes this. Cornell's Birds of North
American species accounts lists pox as an occuring
disease of House Finches that mainly infects the feet
and legs, and in extreme cases the eye and beak, which
often leads to death. Not much known about diseases
of Goldfinches.

Speaking of House Finches, there have been one or two
yellow-orange males around. I'm not sure how common
they are, but I found out the pigment comes from their
diet, yellow-orange ones taking in more beta carotene
than the other pigments.

Some other observations around the state this past
month: Great Egrets, Redheads, Black-necked Stilts,
Yellow-headed Blackbirds, other commoners - Columbia
National Wildlife Refuge. Lots of Rough-legged Hawks
hanging around in the basin as well as Swainson's
Hawks, Short-eared Owls, Grasshopper and Savannah
Sparrows, and lots of White-crowned Sparrows moving
through. Long-billed Curlew near Othello. More
commoners: coots, ravens, harriers, r.t.hawks,
pheasants, chukars, grey partridges, turkeys, cal.
quail, say's phoebes, y.r.warblers, white pelicans,
swallows of all sorts, others.

I'll be working all around the Columbia basin this
summer, I'll keep you posted if I see anything
interesting.

Good birding,

Aaron Jacobsen
-All around E. WA

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