Parasite hits birds in South Wales (1 Viewer)

Sick birds in South Wales

Took this picture this morning. I'm posting it so no one is in any doubt about what to look for.
The table they are feeding from is disinfected daily and fresh food is put out. I have removed the trays from under all my hanging feeders to prevent a build up of droppings. They are also regulary moved. I have put a feeder rotation system in place. Once a week the current feeders are emptied and replaced with clean disinfected ones. But despite all this I still see birds in this state. It really makes me want to cry. Anyone got any ideas for further things I could try. I realise that they maybe picking up the infection from elsewhere.
If anyone else has seen this in their gardens please post here, maybe we can build up a picture of just how bad things are.

Hi Colin,

I don't think there's any way of telling whether that sparrow has a parasitic infestation or something like salmonella, short of getting him to a lab for testing.

Trich. parasite infections should be dying out at this time of year whilst other types, like salmonella, are still increasing - just take a look at the photo, if that little guy is passing his problem on via his droppings, it's not going to be long before another bird picks it up.

Andy.

Hi Andy,
The parasitic infection has been reported in the birding press. It mainly affects finches esp. greenfinches. As I haven't seen as many birds like this in previous years I assumed that this is what I'm seeing now.
Guess you're right about the bird table. Should I remove it for a couple of weeks? It tends to be the domain of sparrows and the occasional greenfinch.

Removing the food source may just push your birds to a nearby feeding station with worse hygiene practices, if you're more than a quarter mile from another feeding station, the sparrows may not move that far as there may still be enough natural food available nearby. The Greenfinches will travel much further in search of food.

Search BF for "Trichomonas" - it will bring up a lot of info and links to external websites. http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=66916 is the thread to begin with.

Oh, I see this topic has already been covered in some detail. Should I remove this thread?
Thanks for the link.