Blog

American Goldfinch – March

Authored by Phil Doerr

The Bird of the Year, American Goldfinch,  is a frequent visitor to our late winter feeders, which you may have noticed, often sharing the largess with purple finches this year. So, keep the “nockies” handy to check out your finches! Have purple finches joined, or even supplanted the house finches? Your ever reliable goldfinches will most likely “weather” the purple storm and mingle readily with these boisterous groups.

But Wait! Be alert! You may recall, that a worrisome, and potentially dangerous situation can develop among these birds when they mob our feeders. Mycoplasma gallisepticum is a bacterium causing respiratory disease in several bird species, including goldfinches!. Mycoplasmosis is especially prevalent in house finches, presenting as red, swollen and crusty eyes. Birds mobbing feeders may, unfortunately, “share” the disease by rubbing against feeders, where infected birds have fed. In harsh weather there may be significant losses, but many birds do recover infection.

So, what do we do?  Mainly we keep alert! Watch your birds feeding, relish their beauty and enjoy their behavioral interactions and displays. Learn the secrets of goldfinch plumage change, because “any minute” some males will begin brightening and incorporating some bright yellow in fresh feathers. This awareness also allows us to detect the appearance of Mycoplasma (or other diseases) in any of our finches so we can react! Once detected there are several things to do:

1-Take the feeders down, and clean thoroughly with disinfectant.

2-Keep feeders down for 2 weeks (but no worries, the birds will return within hours of restarting feeding.

3-Contact Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology at Project Feeder Watch (feederwatch.org)  to report the disease and perhaps the join the Lab’s Feeder Watch program and learn about the science of bird feeding.

4-When re-starting your feeder program consider increasing the number of feeders, or spreading them to reduce crowding and hence disease transmission. Consider avoiding tube feeders as there are data suggesting this configuration enhances opportunities for disease transmission as birds rub against the feeder while actually feeding. Table feeders can present similar hazard.

5-Plan to take feeders down once a week or so to thoroughly clean, disinfect, and dry.

6-Keep the area underneath feeders clean and free of waste, hulls, droppings etc.

7-Clean and disinfect any water features/baths regularly.

Now here’s another alert. Do not remove or cut out any of the long dead plant stems from last year’s pollinator gardens, flower beds, or so-called “weeds”, and don’t mess with the ground level detritus! Don’t do it!!  -Not until spring is really truly here! This is really important !More next month!

Thanks for checking us out! Keep watching our American Goldfinches and all their winter buds!