With big flocks of Pine Siskins swarming EVERYWHERE, in nature hurriedly
filtering through the catkn laden alders and birches, and now descending on
to feeders, BEWARE!!! All this "fun" comes with a price, and with the
winter wet and persistence of such for the next few months, I expect the
'tweeters' subject line to eventually start changing to "sick, dying, and dead
Pine Siskins". Pine Siskins are highly susceptible to Salmonellosis
acquired from wet molding seed. With the highly gregarious nature of Pine
Siskins, one infected bird can quickly spread it to others until it becomes
epidemic, especially on feeders through tracking Salmonella laced fecal
contamination via their inevitably dirty little feet.

I abandoned the thistle tube feeder and nyger over 15 years ago because of
this troubling matter. It's just a reasonably weather protected platform
feeder house now with a 50-50 mix of medium chipped sunflower and whole oil
sunflower, and no more than what can be consumed in a half to one day. I
don't pile it in there or it's container so it will last for days; even if
housed dry, the air is still damp and risks inviting mold, and I just put
out a little spread one day at a time, and clean the feeder properly when it
looks due which can be as often as once a week.

Last winter, I observed a massive Salmonellosis outbreak and Pine Siskin
die-off in my yard. The source appeared to NOT be from the feeder at all,
rather and quite surprisingly, a natural source from probably contaminating
the very cones & seeds they were feeding on way high up in the Douglas Firs
which the Pine Siskins seemed firmly addicted to day after day for nearly
two months! As these infected and sick Pine Siskins weakened, one by one
over a period of weeks separated from the flock and descended from the
healthy birds overhead and took to the platform feeder and stayed planted there
until finally just keeling over dead. Eventually, I even shut that down
for the rest of the winter. Still, and not even feeding for anything
anymore, I ended up finding 22 dead Pine Siskins around the yard (probably more
lost in the shrubbery) including remains (wings and tails) strewn all over
the roof Jan-Mar presumably eaten opportunistically by crows, although I
can't rule out perhaps my yard resident Merlins which I didn't realize might be
lurking until confirmed nesting this past spring/summer. By the end of
March and as the numbers above diminished day by day, I suspect the entire
flock eventually became infected and all likely died.

Although I am seeing huge numbers of Pine Siskins (typically flocks
100-300, but up to 1,000!) scattered about, especially in the Lake Hills
Greenbelt (Bellevue) daily since the first of October where they are occurring
naturally filtering through the alders and birches and back and forth and back
and forth through the entire length of the greenbelt all day long, I have
NONE at my feeders less than two miles away I am so far pleased to report
and only see or hear the occasional flyovers, and I would be quite happy if
it would just stay that way. Pine Siskins at my feeders are no longer
welcome cause for glee, rather greeted with unwelcome apprehension and dread.

Oh, and btw, as long as you're watching all these hordes of Pine Siskins,
don't forget to glean through them carefully for the odd Common Redpoll.
Reports of those mixed with Pine Siskins have started showing up the past
couple of weeks from both western Washington and the Okanagan (BC Interior).

>From Seattle Audubon, SEE: _Salmonellosis_
(http://www.seattleaudubon.org/sas/LearnAboutBirds/SeasonalFacts/BirdDiseases/Salmonellosis.aspx)

Niger or Nyjer? -- SEE: _Nyjer, Niger or Thistle - What Is Njger Seed_
(http://birding.about.com/od/birdfeeders/a/nyjer.htm)


Richard Rowlett
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA