[Birdtalk] Drunk Siskins

[Kristin Purdy]

It's quite possible that the siskins appearing drunk at feeder stations have 
a disease called salmonellosis. Just as humans are more likely to become 
sick when contacting concentrations of other sick members of our species, 
birds are, too. It's especially common at feeder stations in the winter.

I've seen the highest incidence of birds with salmonellosis at my feeder 
this year and concidentailly, all the sick ones have been siskins. Symptoms 
include those that people have reported: an even higher level of 
approachability than usual, mostly flying up off the ground when I approach 
the feeder. The sick birds are fluffed up and may appear to fall asleep as 
you watch them. They hang around the feeder all day and sometimes hop on the 
ground in an un-siskin-like posture, feathers fluffed, tail cocked and wings 
drooping. They may also hang around the water source. Sometimes in a close 
view, their breasts are very puffed and I can detect their labored 
breathing. This last symptom may also be a sign of another disease called 
aspergillosis.

Salmonellosis is transmitted through infected droppings and it's no wonder 
to me that primarily siskins have it at my feeders. To control the diseases, 
I stopped using wooden tray feeders a couple years ago that the House 
Finches just sit in and eat and poop. In addition, the recommended cleaning 
with a weak solution of wather and bleach is too difficult in the winter, so 
I switched to plastic and metal feeders where birds must sit on perches or 
cling to mesh sides and pull out individual seeds. I haven't, however, been 
able to control seeds dropping on the ground, which is where many of the 
siskins feed. While they also cling to seed socks, lots of seed spills from 
heir feeding and my usual high population of siskins seeths over the ground 
under the sunflower and nyger feeders.

The last solution, which I did last year and I'm about to do again, is to 
remove my feeders for a week or two and sweep up the seed. This allows all 
the birds to disperse and the sick ones to die. Birds will recongregate 
quickly once the feeders go back up and my hope is that the returning birds 
will be healthy.

For more information on sick birds at your feeder, see this link from the 
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/DiseasedBirds.htm

Kris