greenfinches dying of Trichomoniasis in UK (2 Viewers)

canaryjayne · Mar 6, 2007

iIve just been reading in the Wildlife Aid magazine that hundres of Greenfinches have died this past year because of Trichomoniasis, caused by a parasite that livews in the birds throat. Apparantly it has been well publicised in the National press. Im wondering whether this has been happening in a certain area of the UK or is it widespread? Has anyone else more information on this or heard anything else on this subject??

jackied · Mar 7, 2007

I think it mainly affected the south and west of the country. Here in the Midlands I had quite a few birds sick and dying over the summer and autumn
Jackie

Colin · Mar 7, 2007

From late summer to the turn of the year, I saw only 5 Greenfinches in one flock which were presumably passing through as I only saw them once. The area where I live is the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. Thus for about 6 months, I did not see any apart from this one sighting. My neighbours have noted the total lack of this species at their feeders as well. However, over the last few weeks I have seen the odd member of this species and yesterday I heard one calling so they seem to be making a small comeback. I suppose birds from outside the area are moving into unoccupied territories as they would do with the breeding season approaching.

patroberts · Mar 12, 2007

I live in Englefield Green close to Windsor Park and we used to joke that our bird feeders were Finch City during the winter, this year we have seen them on very few occasions and no more than in 2 or 3 at a time.
Pat

canaryjayne said:
iIve just been reading in the Wildlife Aid magazine that hundres of Greenfinches have died this past year because of Trichomoniasis, caused by a parasite that livews in the birds throat. Apparantly it has been well publicised in the National press. Im wondering whether this has been happening in a certain area of the UK or is it widespread? Has anyone else more information on this or heard anything else on this subject??

The Raptor · Mar 12, 2007

There is a definate drop in numbers of Greenfinches where I live. Used to see four or five on occasions on my feeders. Have seen some on my sites I visit, but not as many as before. Some good news a couple of days ago however, when I spotted two in a Silver Birch tree just behind my House.

Also, had not seen any Goldfinches in my garden for five months until two showed up yesterday.

Rod.

canaryjayne · Mar 13, 2007

Thanks for your replies. I live next to Richmond Park in Surrey. Haven't seen any Greenfinches for years on my feeders. However I have seen lots of Green Paraqueets feeding. They love the peanuts!!!! They fly in flocks of 40 or more in this area. Anyone in my area seeing Greenfinches????

Gomphus · Mar 13, 2007

Hi all,

Just to say my garden in the north midlands usually holds good numbers of Greenfinch and Chaffinch, both are massively down this winter, in fact the first Greenfinch for several months returned in the last couple of weeks and began to sing (they usually breed in the garden so fingers crossed). Mine is not the only garden to suffer this drop, Friends just up the road have feeders almost untouched, as do friends ten miles away who normally have a regular flock of over 20 Greenfinch on them...
Incidentally, and worryingly, House Sparrows also seem to have been effected.
I kept my feeders clean etc as recommended and even stopped feeding for a while when the problem became apparant, but others in the area may not have.
I wonder what effect this problem has had nationwide?

Mary · Mar 14, 2007

I'm also wondering what the final outcome will be regarding bird numbers, though I don't suppose it will be possible to tell until all migratory birds are back in their breeding areas and counts can be compared with previous years. I had a greenfinch and chaffinch pm'd at the end of last year and both had thrichomonas. A neighbour's cat that doesn't normally catch birds, brought in 9 greenfinches, presumably weakened by disease. I've saturated the local area with hygiene leaflets, and letters in the press(!), and, touch wood, all birds are looking healthy again.

paulwfromtheden · Mar 15, 2007

canaryjayne said:
Thanks for your replies. I live next to Richmond Park in Surrey. Haven't seen any Greenfinches for years on my feeders. However I have seen lots of Green Paraqueets feeding. They love the peanuts!!!! They fly in flocks of 40 or more in this area. Anyone in my area seeing Greenfinches????

I live not too far away from you in Croydon, and I was out this morning at Beddington SF, and there were more Greenfinches around than I have seen for ages, outnumbered Robins, Dunnocks, even Wrens.

canaryjayne · Mar 16, 2007

paulwfromtheden said:
I live not too far away from you in Croydon, and I was out this morning at Beddington SF, and there were more Greenfinches around than I have seen for ages, outnumbered Robins, Dunnocks, even Wrens.

Hi Paul, well I must say that's reassuring news. Thanks for that!!!

necrodeath-head · Mar 16, 2007

Here in my garden there are loads of Goldfinches and Chaffinches.The Greenfinch has hardly made an appearance compared to previous years.But the last week I have seen them more.

Dave Hall · Mar 17, 2007

Here in Warwickshire we had this virus last september and found at least 5 dead Greenfinch in and around our garden following advice we took down all feeders and disinfected them not putting them back up for 3 weeks all winter very few greenfinch in the garden until last couple of weeks numbers now back to normal ish this morning I counted at least 10

dmeredith · Mar 24, 2007

I'm also in Warwickshire and having seen no Greenfinches since about October (before that I found 3 or 4 dead ones but still had a small number of regular visitors before they disappeared) we had a greenfinch visit our new feeder today. Hopefully they'll be some more soon.

Saphire · Mar 24, 2007

Lots of Greenfinches coming to my feeder now started with one two weeks ago now up to 6. There is a couple of youngsters amongst them.

Jimmernite · Mar 28, 2007

Trichomoniasis or Salmonellosis

canaryjayne said:
iIve just been reading in the Wildlife Aid magazine that hundres of Greenfinches have died this past year because of Trichomoniasis, caused by a parasite that livews in the birds throat. Apparantly it has been well publicised in the National press. Im wondering whether this has been happening in a certain area of the UK or is it widespread? Has anyone else more information on this or heard anything else on this subject??

One of these diseases was undoubtedly responsible for the large number of dead finches we saw last year in our West Country garden.

I was reading an article in a parish magazine about a new garden bird drinker based on the hygenic nipple type drinkers used in poultry production. It appears that the problem is seed eating birds that require a lot of water drinking from water that has been contaminated by other birds that have regurgitated contaminated saliva and faeces back into my birdbath.

I bought one and have been amazed how the small birds love it. It has two feeders on the side as well.Most importantly it supplies hygenic water.

You can find it at www.quillgardenbirddrinker.com I had a coupon code from the parish magazine "PPN" try it it might still work. The site is very interesting in any case.

Jimmer

Osprey_watcher · Mar 28, 2007

Jimmernite said:
One of these diseases was undoubtedly responsible for the large number of dead finches we saw last year in our West Country garden.

I was reading an article in a parish magazine about a new garden bird drinker based on the hygenic nipple type drinkers used in poultry production. It appears that the problem is seed eating birds that require a lot of water drinking from water that has been contaminated by other birds that have regurgitated contaminated saliva and faeces back into my birdbath.

I bought one and have been amazed how the small birds love it. It has two feeders on the side as well.Most importantly it supplies hygenic water.

You can find it at www.quillgardenbirddrinker.com I had a coupon code from the parish magazine "PPN" try it it might still work. The site is very interesting in any case.

Jimmer

Thanks for that. My Greenfinches have just come back for the summer and even though I haven't had a problem that I know of I'll be investing in one of these to be safe, and removing the bird bath that seems to only take a day to get dirty after it's been cleaned.
:t:

Marmot · Mar 28, 2007

We had about 4 dead Greenfinches and 2 dead Goldfinches last year between Sept - Nov.

This year the most popular birds in our garden are .....Goldfinches & Greenfinches!

I think it was a case of the fittest survived the disease and the bit of winter we had. So hopefully that awful time they had last year is over and things are looking good around here for this season.

Jodd · Mar 29, 2007

Jimmernite said:
One of these diseases was undoubtedly responsible for the large number of dead finches we saw last year in our West Country garden.

I was reading an article in a parish magazine about a new garden bird drinker based on the hygenic nipple type drinkers used in poultry production. It appears that the problem is seed eating birds that require a lot of water drinking from water that has been contaminated by other birds that have regurgitated contaminated saliva and faeces back into my birdbath.

I bought one and have been amazed how the small birds love it. It has two feeders on the side as well.Most importantly it supplies hygenic water.

You can find it at www.quillgardenbirddrinker.com I had a coupon code from the parish magazine "PPN" try it it might still work. The site is very interesting in any case.

Jimmer

Thanks for the info. I've also just purchased one.

ELAINER · Apr 8, 2007

Hi all - I'm from USA and checked out that Quill Garden Bird Feeder - and I am going to buy it. What a great idea. Thanks for the link Jimmer.

jennifer49 · Sep 1, 2007

Hi! I live in Devon and have lost 15 Greenfinches in the last Month! It's so sad to see them die! Have you found any pattern in their feeding habits that could cause this? I am so sad to see these little Birds die! I sterilise the feeders regularly but am concerned that it couldbe the bird-bath that is the source of infection! Would be interested in your comments! Jenny Baker

greenfinches dying of Trichomoniasis in UK (2 Viewers)

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