sickness in wild birds

[grawley]

I'm a little worried about the birds around my bird table. Although the majority are fine, occassionally we see some puffed up, wheezy birds, who although eating often seem to be wiping their bills alot, often I find them dead the next day, does not seem to be any specific breed although the tits do not seem to suffer from it, more the finches & I found a female blackbird this morning, but she had obviously died several days ago & the rain had washed her out from where ever she last roosted, & the last time I saw her she looked fine, have not seen any blackbirds looking fluffed up. This has been happening through out the summer.

[Littlesparrow]

Sounds worrying, the only thing I half heard on the news a couple of days ago was that goldfinches have been dying from some sort of parasite. They didn't say what it was exactly when I was listening ,or if any other birds were affected.

[Littlesparrow]

I have been surfing the net and found some more information which said that salmonella can cause a die off in the local bird population. One of the symptoms of this is the birds looking puffy. They advised cleaning any bird baths and feeders and spreading feed around instead of using the usual site.
There was also something about feed sometimes being contaminated, hope this helps.

[Littlesparrow]

I think the finch parasite is Trichomoniasis which affects the birds throat. Visit the RSPB site for more information, but basically if you think if could be this they say to not feed the birds and to leave bird baths dry for a time to stop it spreading.

[dmclean2]

Hi There,
Also clean your feeders with a mild dissinfectant such as Vanodine which is used by the pigeon fraternity, this disease Trichomonaisis, started in pigeons and doves and has spread to finches and smaller birds, it is a single cell amoeba that infects the birds throats, makes them seem lethargic,it makes them gasp for air and produces what looks like a nob of butter in their throats, they drool saliva down their chest which looks sticky and sometimes their vent(bum) looks wet and sticky too, it is passed on at your bird table and water baths and feeders, it's not a nice thing but we can help to control it by cleaning our gear regularly,
Duncan

[Beekeeper]

Of course the pigeon population is much larger than ever used to be the case as farmers and local people who all grow their own vegetables shot them on sight.

Maybe the time to cull a few million but someone would object to that as they do everything else.

Ian

[solus]

An RSPB News article dated 19th August, here:
The RSPB: Advice: Trichomonosis in finches and other garden birds

And the BTO one which was on Birdguides the day before:
Disease outbreak latest

[grawley]

Thanks to everyone who has responded, sounds like you've answered my question as to what's wrong.

[RKB]

It is trichomoniasis. Stop feeding right away, remove all feeders and bird baths, sterilise them, and do not put them out again for at least 2 weeks. If you see more sick birds stop again and wait a month. If there are still sick birds, stop for longer. This sounds severe, but trich' has killed a fifth of the country's Greenfinches in the past few years and is lethal. By continuing to feed, you're just attracting healthy birds to a small area contaminated by disease (your garden). By not feeding, the healthy birds will disperse and feed elsewhere - it's late summer, there is lots of natural food available so they wont starve.