Hi everyone
I'm just catching up on threads and found this very interesting one. I saw that Mary finally posted the most useful item being the link to the Garden Bird Health Initiative at
http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/ioz/projects/garden_bird_health_initiative.htm
I'm not inly interested asn avid birder with a large feeding station (over 450 birds recorded at a single sitting), but professionally I organise conferences for the
BOU and have organised two in recent years on bird diseases.
Garden bird deaths are going to be more obvious to those of us with large feeding stations. More birds equates to a greater likelihood of finding ill, dying or dead birds. More birds also equates to a greater risk of disease transfer from bird to bird and across species.
It must be noted that not all ill birds seen in your garden have 'tricho'. The symptons to most avian diseases result in lethargic and fluffed up birds. I had over 20 dead birds analysed last year and non proved positive for tricho.
All of us who feed garden birds must be aware that concentrations of any bird species represents an increased health risk to both the birds and ourselves. Birds have naturally occuring levels of bacteria such as salmonella and e-coli, and these will be present in small traces at garden bird feeding stations. Good hygiene helps - keep drinking and bathing water clean, replacing regularly (not just topping up) and cleaning baths etc regularly (I scrub mine every other day and allow one at a time to stand empty for several days before disinfecting then leaving to stand for a few days more before reusing), clean feeders regularly (I have two sets of feeders which get rotated fortnightly), remove the build up of seeds and husks below a feeder. If seed isnt being eaten soon after dropping to the ground, its likely not to be eaten. If you have large build up of uneaten seeds your birds are telling you something - change your birdseed mix or supplier! They dont eat rubbish. I've honed my mixes down so that I have zero waste. I mix most of my own buying the raw ingredients by the sack and mixing as I need it (suppliers such as
Vine House Farm Bird Food can supply sacks of most seeds for you to do this if you find the standard mixes are being wasted - but it takes up a lot of room!). This cuts out the rubbish such as wheat, maize chips, pea, linseed, hemp, etc which often cause the build up of uneaten seed or here, attracts only pheasants and collared doves (and I have enough of both).
Personally I dont follow GBHi guidelines when it comes to dead birds, as I collect all my dead birds as I find them (not the decomposing ones!) and freeze (treat as you would dog poo with a plastic bag over your hand, tie a knot, place in another plastic bag, place in an old ice cream tub and stick in the freezer not forgetting to add a note with finding lcoation and date). If GBHi dont want them for analysis I send them to either to the regional museum or to Tring (museums rarely turn down fresh specimens where the finding details are known and can be recorded as part of the documentation).
Steve