Hummer Health?
I hadn't been paying much attention to the birds coming to the feeder, but did notice "Big Beak", I nicknamed him, but until I took some close up photos I didn't realize what an ugly problem he had. I got a new camera and renewed interesting in the birds and since then have noticed others with symptoms of similar beak problems. I came back to the forum (after a long absence) to see what I could learn and found this thread.
Big Beak was the head honcho of the feeder for quite awhile, but he's gone now and I don't know his fate. The current dominant male is the guy on the bare branch and you can see he's got a problem too, but not as bad. I assembled the animated GIF from shots of another bird and although color fidelity is not as good as the JPG's I edited the sequence is cute and shows this bird also seems to have a slight problem on the underside of it's beak.
I've always felt I take good care of my feeder seeing these birds prompted me to take a much closer look so I disassembled the parts and found "Black Stuff" in the usually hidden nooks and crannys. I used a stiff artist's brush and detergent to clean everything and then soaked it for a few hours in a household bleach solution. After a good rinse it's back in business. I usually nuke to a boil the water for the feeder then along with 1/4C of sugar add three drops of red food color to the bit over a cup it takes to fill it. I know, I know, I read long ago that I shouldn't use the color, but for the four years I've been brewing my own syrup it hasn't seemed to hurt. And, I still doubt it does ... but?
But, what I really worry about is the other feeders in my neighborhood. I've seen many of them in the RV Park I live in. I doubt the folks that tend those are as careful as I am. I'm an old handicapped guy and not a social butterfly so they are strangers and I don't get around much. I decided the best I can do is print these photos and post them in the Park Lodge and hope for the best.
Does anyone recognize or have any idea what the problem is that these birds have. With three birds showing symptoms I'm concerned. There are clean beaks around too, but they are usually chased away from my feeder quickly by the guy on the bare branch.
Any ideas and thoughts will be appreciated.
The new camera by the way is a Canon SX30IS.
Mark
Oops, just discovered the GIF was too large so I picked one other shot of "sleepy" instead.