Sick Pine Siskins - Bird Salmonella
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 มิ.ย. 2016
- Avian Salmonella. If a few sick Pine Siskins show up at the bird feeders it is most likely Salmonella and time to take action to prevent spreading the disease! Narration in the video is adapted from these excellent sources of information on songbird salmonella, especially regarding Pine Siskins linked below.
Birds do get sick. Disease is one of many natural processes affecting wild species. Sick birds do show up at feeders, and other birds can get sick as a consequence.
Just because bird feeding is not problem-free does not mean that it is bad or should be stopped. It does mean you have an ethical obligation not to jeopardize wild birds. What is called for is intelligent bird feeding. Follow the precautions listed below, and you can continue to enjoy feeding healthy wild birds.
If You're Seeing Sick or Dying Pine Siskins
wildbirdsunlimited.typepad.com...
Fact Sheet: Coping with Diseases at Bird Feeders
www.nwhc.usgs.gov/publications...
The Precautions against Disease
People who feed birds cannot ignore the disease issue. Eight relatively easy steps can be taken to prevent or minimize disease problems at feeders.
1. Give them space - Avoid crowding by providing ample feeder space. Lots of birds using a single feeder looks wonderful, but crowding is a key factor in spreading disease. If birds have to jostle each other to reach the food, they are crowded. This crowding also creates stress which may make birds more vulnerable to disease.
2. Clean up wastes - Keep the feeder area clean of waste food and droppings. A broom and shovel can accomplish a lot of good, but a vacuum such as you might use in your garage or workshop will help even more.
3. Make feeders safe - Provide safe feeders without sharp points or edges. Even small scratches and cuts will allow bacteria and viruses to enter otherwise healthy birds.
4. Keep feeders clean - Clean and disinfect feeders regularly. Use one part of liquid chlorine household bleach in nine parts of tepid water (a 10 percent solution) to disinfect. Make enough solution to immerse an empty, cleaned feeder completely for two to three minutes. Allow to air dry. Once or twice a month should do, but weekly could help more if you notice sick birds at your feeders.
5. Use good food - Discard any food that smells musty, is wet, looks moldy or has fungus growing on it. Disinfect any storage container that holds spoiled food and the scoop used to fill feeders from it.
6. Prevent contamination - Keep rodents out of stored food. Mice can carry and spread some bird diseases without being affected themselves.
7. Act early - Don't wait to act until you see sick or dead birds. With good prevention you'll seldom find sick or dead birds at your feeders.
8. Spread the word - Encourage your neighbors who feed birds to follow the same precautions. Birds normally move among feeders and can spread diseases as they go. The safest birdfeeders will be those in communities where neighbors cooperate with equal concern for the birds.
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More info at: screech-owls.blogspot.com/2016... #MyBackyardBirding
For anyone reading this in a similar situation: I found a sick siskin in my yard, and was able to put it in a shoebox and take it to my local wildlife center. They even emailed me back a week later to let me know the little fella made a full recovery and was re-released!
Such a blessing 🩵 thank you for sharing that
I've been seeing sick birds at my feeders too. Most sick birds have been killed by a Cooper's Hawk that has been visiting our yard, or the bird died by the sickness. It makes me sad to be honest
I'm sorry the bird became infected but thank you for this important information. I didn't know about the salmonella problem at bird feeders.
First time for me - I think it is mostly when the feeders are real crowded - for me that's spring.
BB
Just had one pine siskin alone on the ground. He was puffed out and could not fly. I picked him up and put them in a safe area. He died a few hours later. Thank you for this important information.
In West Oregon the reason the overload of pine finches in the valley and in your feeders may be because of the forest fires have driven them out of the their natural habitat
That may well be the case, there are pine siskins all over the eastern US as well this winter. th-cam.com/video/LH16PGkCgow/w-d-xo.html
BB
Thank you for posting this video! I pulled all of my feeders and sanitized them today.
Audubon Society said to take them down for three weeks or maybe more until this is over
Poor birdie! Thank you BB!
Thank you
Awe poor little birdie :(
Water Source: The water source is the most important thing to manage properly. A pond or 'habitat waterfall' creates its own bio to keep their water safe. Circulation, rock filtration, and fresh water replenishment replicates nature. NOT the case with fountains, fountain water falls or bird baths. If your unit gets full sun, you can remove the water and let the sun bleach it clean for a couple of days. This is the method used to clean aquarium decor and rock. If your units are in shade, pour some hydrogen peroxide in the water. The stuff in the brown bottle at the store please! Do not use pool supply products. You do not need to go commando here. Wild birds still drink out of gutters. A cup in a bird bath AT Night! The high oxygen peroxide will kill bacteria and mold, by morning it's just water and perfectly safe to drink. I learned this trick to keep water safe in the summer heat & kill mosquito larve. Stone and concrete are porus. In a closed loop system, dangerous bacteria can build.
Feeding: Here's my do and don't list.
1-Limit feeder time. A couple of hours a day is plenty to enjoy a wild aviary. If no one is home to do this, put your feeder out when you're home. Birds are always scouting. They will quickly learn to check and see if your snack bar is out. You still want to limit the time.
2-Quality food. No worries, you'll be able to afford this because it's wrong to provide an unlimited supply of food and you want the birds to consume what's on the ground. Sunflower chips medium grind are the best for most. You can stay in that lane or grow it from there. I just do the chips because I don't have the land to give birds territory distance. Feeding wild birds quality food is a boost to their immune system.
3- Are bird enthusiasts to blame? NO! In wild world, the strong survive and the weak don't. When we put out survival gifts for animals we bring this reality into view. That said, it's important to have a cleaning schedule. As I've shared here, the water source is the most likely suspect. I clean my feeders in the shower. Hot soapy water let them drain and dry overnight. I put the metal bottoms out in the sun. It warms them to help evaporate moisture.
Blessings to our bird lovers getting the message out.
True. I started adding a tsp of vinegar to every liter of water and I had no fatalities this year. I practice very strict hygiene for my feeders and change out my bird bath water regularly but I still could not reduce the fatalities until I started adding vinegar to the bird water source. That finally stopped the finch mortality.
good to know tips man great video very helpful. i have 15 different kinds of bird feeders and 5 suet feeders to i will clean em out
Really helpful, thanks! We have a bad salmonella outbreak at our feeders, despite extremely good, regular feeder cleaning. I suspect the big problem is that salmonella can live for over 400 days (!) in soil - so every little seed that drops from our feeders becomes a potential contaminant. Time to re-figure our feeder placement...
I put a dome umbrella over the feeders during rain. This is where birds get dumb. They don't know wet food with their wet poop can be deadly?
Finches can get air sac mites and also conjunctivitis. I have noticed sick finches at my feeder, so I stopped feeding. I keep the feeding area clean and water and feeders - and - all surfaces disinfected. For years I saw no finches here in central New Jersey. I believe this was due to illness outbreak among finches years ago. This year I finally saw house finches and purple finches. Now they are showing up sick one by one, they disappear one by one. I wish there was a way to treat them. The weather has been hot and humid, I am sure the air sac mites are the culprit, followed by secondary infections. I feel so bad, I wish there was more I could do.
Its your bird bath. Changing out the water frequently is not enough. 1tsp of vinegar for every liter of water will stop these common diseases from spreading in the water.
ive seen a few birds puff up like that but they go back to normal but they dont look sick
Awesome advice and wonderful information! Did the wee little guy perish?
Very informative, poor birds!
You posted this 5 years ago, and it's relevant every year, and especially this winter of 2020-2021 given the devastation to Pine Siskin populations devastated with avian salmonellos across the southern and western US. Not sure you mentioned it in your video, but the disease can easily spread from bird to bird, and that's how the mortality rates from these events can soar into the thousands. The spread of salmonellosis in backyard birds caused by exposure to salmonella-contaminated droppings on feeders, or salmonella-contaminated bird seed always poses a health threat for garden birds. The threat just goes up exponentially during an irruptive migration like the one experienced with the affected Pine Siskins this past winter. As you mentioned, salmonella is present in nature. But, backyard birding concentrates birds in mass in backyards and at feeders, as they likely would never congregate in the wild. This ratchets up the disease threat with them in such tight proximity to each other, and with lots of bacteria-laced droppings thrown into the mix.
This is ridiculous. The birds will flock together during the fall and winter months, whether you put your feeders out or not. You all really need to start adding vinegar to your bird baths to stop these diseases from spreading.
Thanks for this video. We found 7 dead siskins in our yard and many lethargic
Siskins. I just thought they were overeating.
@@LH23511 keep the feeders down for at least a month because as soon as you disinfect them they become reinfected quickly
I'm sorry for asking hey,
There is a bird near my house that is rather small and looks like a canary bird but not like any I've seen so It might be a wild bird with some unusual color, so I was thinking of trapping it and keeping it with my canary bird, she bird is always around the house and I feed it. But do they spread viruses and can they be kept? It's a small bird with blue and green colors
It sounds like a male painted bunting. Yes, wild birds can bring diseases - and parasites to your bird - I wouldn't do it! Likely it has a mate nesting nearby. She and her eggs or chicks will be dependent upon him to help with feeding. Removing the bird from the wild will deplete the already-dwindling population as these birds are trapped in Central America for their bright plumage, disrupting the migration/breeding of this particular species. Feral cats also prey upon them. Besides, wouldn't you find it much more interesting to observe it in it's habitat than in a cage?
A post from Oregon brought up an excellent point. The fires that destroyed their habitat pushed them out. Migration would seem to fix it but birds are not supposed to be migrating in the winter. Without food and water and the energy migration takes in bad weather, poor little guys may have gotten too little too late.
This video us from 4 years ago. Lol. Also things moved back into the burned areas of Yellowstone really fast years ago. Fire is what keeps things growing by putting nutrients back in the soil.
That's why I say Wash your Feeders ... I'm rly ticked the Sanctuary has feeders but no one washes them and I'm too afraid to take them and wash them cuz they aren't mine ..but you'd think of all places this is where you'd find clean feeders..cuz this is how they get sick
I’ve had my bird feeders up for over a year and just recently in the past couple weeks noticed a few finches who I thought were overweight near my feeders. I wondered why they looked different and also their reaction time was much slower than the other birds. I clean my feeders and water regularly. I have not found/seen a dead bird or evidence of feathers near by. Should I still remove all my feeders/bird bath/water bowls?
As long as you clean regularly I see no reason to stop providing food and water for the birds. That can only help them. BB
Hi, I read a post on social media recommending minced dry garlic mixed with the seeds. It is supposed to help the bird's immune system. Have you ever tried that? and If you have, what would you subject the appropriate ratios should be?
Haven't heard that but I do use a finch and small bird seed that is fortified with vitamins and minerals at: amzn.to/3qbX0kt in some of my videos you'll see the seed with the colorful bits in it - that's this seed. BB
@@MyBackyardBirding thank you!
I clean feeder every 2 weeks. Sooner if food gets wet. I also clean bird bath every 2 days. I pray that that will be enough.
Your problem is likely the bird bath. Every two days is not good. I cleaned mine 2-4 times a day but even that was not enough. I finally figured out that it was spreading in the water. 1tsp of vinegar for every liter of water. That will stop the diseases from spreading by saliva and feces in the water. Finally no sick birds. Try it, if it works spread the word.
I found one yesterday & turned in to our local wild life rescue 😞. (san mateo, Calif)
poor little guy.
they are in our arborvitae trees in our yard & the pine trees behind our house with doves, junco, crows & ravens.
So lovely...Liked❤◕‿◕❤Greetings👍
Poor little bird :(
We have taken 2 pine siskins to the Autobon Society in about 2 months. They are getting about 15 a day, we were told to take down our feeders. I'm wondering if this is due to the fires we had in September. The invasion is so bad, the Autobon Society said to keep the feeders away until this settles down. I told them I was using bleach to disinfect the feeders but they said the invasion is so bad as soon as you put them up they get re-infected quickly
Yes, my Siskin invastion videos were taken in late October and early November 2020 I have never seen one last so long and the longer it goes on the more the disease is a factor. th-cam.com/video/LH16PGkCgow/w-d-xo.html BB
@@MyBackyardBirding thank you for the information. From my understanding, salmonella it is usually fatal, is that correct? Or can they survive?
They can survive. Im cleaning the feeders every night, only putting out exactly what my birds typically eat in a day and discarding any leftovers at night. I empty all my feeders every night. Ive had lethargic ones but they're never so bad, they cant fly away or even die. It's the inability to find food and water and escape predators that kills them.
❤️ sparrow ❤️😘
I HAVE A FLOCK OF THEM AND I SAW A FLUFFY ONE EATING FROM MY FEEDER WHAT DO I DOOO
Just make sure you're feeders are kept clean with fresh food but don't totally stop feeding the birds. Take a look at the references linked in the video description. BB
@@MyBackyardBirding Thanks
I took a shot everytime he says the word .......feces
aw hes so cute and fat! but it really sad :(
gosh so sad. Shouldn't you cull any sick birds like this?