Subject: [Tweeters] House finch eye disease back again
Date: Apr 2 18:01:39 2007
From: Ken Reppart - tweeters at reppart.org


Actually the guidelines on the Cornell site say to clean the feeder in a 10%
bleach solution in addition to raking the area under the feeder.

>From the site:

Do bird feeders encourage the spread of conjunctivitis?

Whenever birds are concentrated in a small area, the risk of a disease
spreading within that population increases. Even so, feeding birds may not
necessarily increase the rate of disease spread, and should not have a net
negative impact on the House Finch population. House Finch Disease Survey
data tell us that the disease has decreased from epidemic proportions and is
now restricted to a smaller percentage of the population. We estimate that
5% to 10% of the eastern House Finch population has this disease and that
the dramatic spread that occurred a few years ago has equilibrated. This
means that it is still an important and harmful disease, but that House
Finch populations are not currently at extreme risk of wide-spread
population declines.
Your continued participation in the House Finch Disease Survey will allow
researchers to better understand the risk factors for conjunctivitis. In the
meantime, please be responsible and clean your feeders on a regular basis
even when there are no signs of disease. Follow the above recommended
guidelines as you feed birds."

Bird Feeding Guidelines:

1) Space your feeders widely to discourage crowding.

2) Clean your feeders on a regular basis with a 10% bleach solution solution
(1 part bleach and 9 parts water) and be sure to remove any build-ups of
dirt around the food openings. Allow your feeders to dry completely before
rehanging them.

3) Rake the area underneath your feeder to remove droppings and old, moldy
seed.

4) If you see one or two diseased birds, take your feeder down immediately
and clean it with a 10% bleach solution.


- ken
capitol hill, seattle
----- Original Message -----
From: Suzanne Krom
To: Tweeters
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 5:57 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] House finch eye disease back again


It's been many months since I've seen a house finch with the eye disease
that plagues these poor birds. Unfortunately, today I noticed several at my
feeder. Oddly, all the afflicted birds are female.

Be on the lookout for birds with this condition at your feeders. If you see
even just one or two, remove the feeders that attract them so the birds
disperse. By attracting them to one location (such as a feeder) we are
inadvertently spreading this highly contagious condition that house finches
are particularly susceptible to. Also, it's important to clean the area
under the feeders to reduce the risk of infecting healthy birds. Cornell has
excellent information -- http://www.birds.cornell.edu/hofi/abtdisease.html.
Suzanne Krom
West Seattle
szkrom at drizzle dot com



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