Blind Finch, Arapahoe

[Mary Kay Waddington]

Yesterday I noticed a female House Finch fluttering in a very strange manner -- it was almost stationary in the air with wings going back and forth for all the world like it was emulating a hummingbird.  Then it would move 6 inches in the air and continue its fluttering, move another 6 in.  Finally its wing brushed against a twig and the bird managed to make an extremely awkward landing.  That's when I noticed that one eye was almost completely crusted over, and the other one was cloudy looking and very red.  I really think it was almost completely blind.  It cocked its head in all different directions -- listening to other birds? and finally made another fluttering movement until it's wings hit a different twig -- another awkward landing.   This was only a few feet from my thistle feeder and I think it used its ears to know there were other finches feeding there.  It finally fluttered towards the feeder, hit it, and miraculously managed a landing on one of the perches.  Fed for quite a long time before being frightened off - did its fluttery flight and didn't brush up against any other twigs so ended up landing on the ground (although "landing" is perhaps not exactly the right word.)

So then I started worrying that perhaps it had pox and was infecting my feeder and other birds.  Every time I saw it on a branch it was frequently rubbing its eyes against the branch -- probably spreading whatever it had.  So should I catch it and do away with it?  Grim thoughts during our own human viral crisis!  I'm sure I could have crept up on it and grabbed it.

About an hour later the Magpies alerted me that I should be looking out the window -- A Cooper's Hawk was eating a female House finch.  Haven't seen the blind bird since, so perhaps natural selection took its course.

Mary Kay Waddington

[Dick Filby]

Hi Mary Kay

So sorry to hear.  Right now, the best action to avoid more infected birds:

Clean all your feeders immediately with soap and water, and then rinse with a mild bleach solution, and not put them back out for a week, in case it, or other infected birds return and infect the feeders.

See the Audubon advice here

https://www.audubon.org/news/3-ways-keep-your-feeder-disease-free-birds

Cornell Lab of Ornithology tracks bird disease, so don't hesitate to report to them.

Good luck, and be sure that you stay safe in the pandemic too

Best rgds

DickFilby

Carbondale, CO

Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S® 6, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone

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[Chip Clouse]

Here is the Cornell link:  http://static.birds.cornell.edu/hofi/recognizing.html

Chip Clouse

Golden

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