Post by deb&tony on May 19, 2007 21:48:10 GMT -8
Page C7 of today's Vancouver Sun had interesting info. about the House Finch which reminded me of two earlier finch-related topics posted here- predation and diseases in finches.
According to the profile and I quote: "Jays and other larger birds have been known to attack them, but these days the greatest threat to their survival is a mysterious form of conjunctivitis. This eye disease makes them less mobile and therefore easier to prey upon. It was first detected in earlier birds in 1994, but since then it has been spreading west. Researchers don't know why."
Interesting! This may explain how a Steller's Jay preys on a finch and perhaps it is actually conjunctivitis and not avian pox that some birds in the finch family suffer from.
Several years ago, we lost an entire family of towhees to what I thought, at the time, was avian pox and now believe was conjunctivitis. It was very sad to watch the disease progress from bird to bird and to eventually note their disappearance altogether. Fortunately, our local population of towhees has rebounded and we now have 4 nesting pairs on our property.
Also, a new bird book out entitled Silence of the Songbirds by Bridget Stutchbury. She is a prof at York U. who has been studying songbird migration for more than 20 years by charting the decline, pinpointing its various causes and suggesting ways we can slow down the rate of the birds' disappearance.
According to the profile and I quote: "Jays and other larger birds have been known to attack them, but these days the greatest threat to their survival is a mysterious form of conjunctivitis. This eye disease makes them less mobile and therefore easier to prey upon. It was first detected in earlier birds in 1994, but since then it has been spreading west. Researchers don't know why."
Interesting! This may explain how a Steller's Jay preys on a finch and perhaps it is actually conjunctivitis and not avian pox that some birds in the finch family suffer from.
Several years ago, we lost an entire family of towhees to what I thought, at the time, was avian pox and now believe was conjunctivitis. It was very sad to watch the disease progress from bird to bird and to eventually note their disappearance altogether. Fortunately, our local population of towhees has rebounded and we now have 4 nesting pairs on our property.
Also, a new bird book out entitled Silence of the Songbirds by Bridget Stutchbury. She is a prof at York U. who has been studying songbird migration for more than 20 years by charting the decline, pinpointing its various causes and suggesting ways we can slow down the rate of the birds' disappearance.
