When It Is Time to Take Down the Bird Feeder

The end of the summer was a troubling time for me and the Red House Garden bird community.  We had a sick bird.

my sick House Finch

I noticed that this little House Finch constantly stayed on the bird feeder.  Its eyes were swollen, and it didn't even notice me at one point when I was right next to the bird feeder - it had House Finch Eye Disease.

House Finch Eye Disease, sometimes called Mycoplasma Conjunctivitis, is a respiratory infection where the eyes of infected birds become swollen, red, and crusted over.  Birds can recover from the infection, but the mortality rate is quite high from starvation or predation as these birds cannot see very well.

House Finch Eye Disease was first noticed in 1994 near Washington D.C. and can now be found all along the East coast.  It affects mainly House Finches, though it has also been found in other birds in the same family, such as Goldfinches, Purple Finches, and Evening Grosbeaks.

the House finch scratching its eyes against the roof gutter.

House Finches are not native to the Eastern U.S. - they are from the West coast.  All of our House Finches here in the East are actually descended from a small group of House Finches (or 'Hollywood Finches' as they were known back then) that were released in Long Island by bird dealers back in the 1940's when it became illegal to keep and sell them.

Hence our Eastern House Finches are all inbred and genetically inferior - and thus more susceptible to this disease.

So what to do about my little sick House Finch?  I didn't want it to infect the other finches at the bird feeder.  I tried disinfecting the bird feeder every day and limiting the amount of time it was up, but the sick bird still hung around the bird feeder quite a bit.  And when I thought I spotted another House Finch that had swollen eyes a couple days later, I knew it was time - I had to take down the bird feeder and let the birds disperse.

House Finch Eye Disease has taken its toll

The sick House Finch was looking even worse by then - I do hope it survived, but more likely Nature took its course.  At least with it being late summer, food was readily available for all the other birds that often stopped at my feeder.  (And despite what my squirrels say, I'm sure they are finding some food around as well!)

It is recommended that the feeders stay down for at least two weeks when there is disease going around.  I've had them down for over a month now as I've been too busy to put them back up, but soon I'll hang them back up for the fall migrating birds and for my winter residents.

 And hopefully by then all my birds will be healthy and clear-eyed.