Recently, I’ve had a bit of a heartbreak in my backyard. I need to tell you about it so you wont’ make the same mistake.
House Finch Eye Disease
I’ve blogged before about the importance of paying attention to your feeders and yanking them down the minute you see any of your house finches with the eye disease they can get. I’d been pretty lucky this year that I had not seen any infected birds until this point. A week or so I saw one bird that had a mild case of it. I should have pulled the feeders down right then but I didn’t.
That was my first mistake.
The weather was not that cold and the birds were not mobbing my feeders. I don’t have tube feeders up which are the worst for spreading the disease so I felt I was pretty safe. I only witnessed maybe one or two others so I thought I did not have a run away epidemic on my hands.
That was my second mistake.
In the past couple of weeks, feeding has been off and on. My goldfinches were primarily feeding on my big hopper feeder and the upside down thistle feeders they have. They also love the chickadee feeder with sunflower hearts which the house finches have a tough time feeding from. I didn’t actually see any sick house finches feeding from it so I thought the goldfinches were safe using it.
That was the final mistake.
Goldfinches Can Get House Finch Eye Disease
Two days ago, I was watching the house finches feeding from the chickadee feeder hanging right outside my sliding glass back door. I was suddenly drawn to one of them that was twisting his head back and forth in an odd manner. I got a sick feeling because over the years I’ve learned to spot this behavior in seconds. On closer inspection, I could see the bird had one eye completely shut and swollen. Within minutes, I had taken down the feeder and put it in my garage. I will not put it back out until it is cleaned and the infected birds are gone.
Why Did This Happen?
Because I wasn’t taking my own advice and got lazy. I don’t know if the little ones who contracted the disease will live or die. I DO know, it’s my fault for not taking action when I knew I should have. I know I’m not the first person or the last that will do this but I hope this post serves to spark you into action when you know you should take it. It’s very hard sometimes to balance continuing to feed birds when they need it with a potential health risk to them.
For now, I hope my goldfinch friends will see it in their hearts to forgive me. I would not knowingly do anything to harm them and I feel awful about this. I promise to take and keep down all feeders until this passes. I further promise to clean all feeders again before putting them back up.
What About You?
Do you have a regular cleaning schedule? Do you stick to it? Are you actively paying attention to your feeders or do you just fill them and forget them? Let us know your experience and share any tips you have to avoid this.
Delayne Conner says
I have also seen House Finch at my feeders with the eye disease. I took down my feeders that day and washed them with a bleach solution, but I didn’t keep them down. I wish I had. Now I have seen Goldfinch, as well as a Pine Sisken with the disease. I do hope the disease isn’t fatal in every bird that has contracted it.
BirdDude says
laneydee79,
Thanks for stopping by and contributing! We value your input.
I know we feel bad about it but if the truth be told, it’s not all our fault. I’ve read blog after blog after article that all say if you see sick birds clean your feeders immediately. Not all of them tell you to take them down like this Project Feederwatch article does: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/DiseasedBirds.htm My thinking has always been if I clean them and put them back up, as soon as a sick bird uses it it’s infected again. Apparently, my instincts were correct here.
I was not aware Pine Siskins could get that disease but it’s clear they’re sick. The best advice is to take them down now, clean them and allow them to disperse for at least a week before putting them up again. I would add from my own experience to yank them down again if you see a sick bird out there again.
I was lax because I had a lot going on and I should have done what I’ve already done a few times in my years feeding: yank them, clean them and wait!
You should give yourself a pat on the back, though. Do you know how many bird feeders never really pay any attention to their feeders like we do? Quite a few. That’s one of the reasons the eye disease got so out of hand in the first place. The gentleman that introduced me to bird feeding ten years ago never had that level of attention. He was the kind whose feeders are well out of sight from the back of their house and would complain that his feeders were being emptied(probably by grackles)but he had no idea how. Personally, I think it’s irresponsible to feed like that but that’s just my opinion.
Thanks again for sharing with us and congratulations for caring enough to correct the situation.
Jeff
Andrea in AZ says
Mistakes teach us…YOU are teaching us.. THANK YOU!
BirdDude says
Thank you so much for stopping by and your kind words. I really enjoy sharing and helping my readers any way I can. You are most welcome!
Jeff
Velva says
I have just recently been captivated by birdwatching in my backyard. In my quest to host eastern bluebirds, I have discovered birdwatching.
I have three feeders up- and I typically hose out my feeders once a year.
I will be paying more attention to he birds that visit to ensure that my feeders do not harbor disease.
I just discovered your blog. Thanks for sharing. I will be back.
Velva
BirdDude says
Hi Velva and welcome to the BirdOculars blog!
I don’t know where you are located but your feeders should be cleaned out with a 10% bleach solution at least once a month if you can manage it. Don’t make the mistake I did thinking low numbers at a particular feeder could keep the disease impact low. I still see one of the goldfinches with his bad eye trying to scrap for food and it tears me up to think I may have been responsible for his plight.
I would love to have you back. I’m going to be posting more often items I think my readers will find interesting and helpful.
Jeff
gm says
I know this is an old post but thank you very much for finally helping make the decision to take the feeders down. This is the first year I’ve seen goldfinches at my feeder and have noticed some with the conjunctivitis symptoms. This morning we found a dead one under the feeder and have another that probably will not make it through the night. I saw the first signs about 2 weeks ago, cleaned the feeders but put them back up. I’ve been torn on whether to take them down or not but after finding the poor little guy dead this morning and the other on his way, I will be following your advice and taking the feeders down. Thank you very much.
BirdDude says
Hi gm,
Thank you for stopping by and for your kind words! I too was decidedly split on what to do at first. A lot of the birding blogs would have you taking it down every other day to clean it which I think is nonsense. When you consider you could sterilize the feeder, put it back up and have a sick bird re-infect it in minutes, it just doesn’t make any sense. When I saw my first infected goldfinch, that was it! Took them down, cleaned them and kept them down until after the sick birds had moved on or were no longer a threat. It hurt my heart to do it. Especially, since I was part of the reason they were sick in the first place.
I had a similar thing happen this year. In the course of about a week, I noticed a sick house finch at my feeder. The dead giveaway is the flitting type flight like they’re not sure where they’re going. Checking with my binocs I confirmed it. The same day before I could get the feeder down, there was a goldfinch doing the same flitting and head shaking. I yanked them all down on the spot! It makes me feel good that you’ve been able to use my experience to save other birds!
gm says
Thanks for your reply. I am wondering how long you keep your feeders down after spotting sick finches? I’ve taken all feeders down but not sure when to put them back up. Also, after putting them back up, have you experienced a recurrence soon after having them back up?
BirdDude says
Hello again gm,
I would say they should stay down at least a month but you’ll know better what’s going on in your back yard. Are you in the Northeast, Midwest, South? In the twelve years I’ve been feeding birds I’ve had to take them down more than once. The second time was for even longer. Just make sure you pay close attention to the birds coming to your feeders once you put them back up. That’s the critical time because the sick birds have either died or gotten well. The last thing you want to happen is for the whole flock to find your feeder at once because there will almost certainly still be sick ones amongst them. Does this make sense? Slow and steady is best.
Jeff
gm says
Thank you for the information. I am in the South and started noticing the sick birds soon after our final winter storm here. There was a huge concentration of birds in the back yard during that 2 week bad weather period, probably 30 or finches on the feeders. I was hoping the sick birds would recover as I have read this is a possibility but I think taking the feeders down as you suggested is the best option. The birds have just about disappeared since taking them down which I think is a good thing. I will wait the time you suggested, try again and see what happens. Thanks again..
BirdDude says
Hi gm,
I’m just outside of Nashville and I had the exact same issue you did with that storm as well. They were crowding the feeder something awful and I was sure that wouldn’t be good but I didn’t want to take them down while it was snowy, icy and freezing out. Sometimes your heart just gets the best of you-LOL!
Yes, the birds disappearing IS a good thing! Don’t worry when you get them back up, they’ll come back!
Let me know how you make out or any other questions you have.
Best,
Jeff
gm says
Cool! I did not realize you were in the Nashville area. I am south of Nashville in Spring Hill.
BirdDude says
Glad to hear it! How long have you been feeding birds? Do you have bird friendly plantings and such?
gm says
Hi,
Been feeding birds for a couple years now. Started with hummingbirds then with others just this past year. Have lots of hummingbird plants and lots of evergreen shelter for birds. Need to work on some berry bushes and such. Do you have any suggestions that grow well in this area?
BirdDude says
Hey gm,
I am by no means the birding landscaping specialist. I’m more the “accidental” specialist, meaning I’ve been lucky many of the plants that came with our house have proven useful to birds. In particular, we have a holly bush that gets all kinds of use. Berries are eaten, nests are built and they’re just really nice to look at. They do need to be sprayed about once a year so they don’t get whatever the sooty residue which I think comes from thrips or mites or something. You can use oil spray for that. It’s not highly toxic. Just make sure there are no nests when you use it.
Here’s something like what we have: http://www.homedepot.com/p/OnlinePlantCenter-2-gal-Blue-Prince-Holly-Shrub-I75815/100668789
Hope this helps,
Jeff