Bullfinch female - Trichomoniasis?

Hello,

This is my first post/question, although I’ve been reading posts for a while. 

We have a very small number of Bullfinches in our garden.  They never do particularly well unfortunately. I have just been out to check the feeders and water and have found what I think to be a female bullfinch sitting on the edge of a water tray.  She didn’t fly off when I went near her. 

Can I please ask if I have identified correctly as a female, or is this a fledgling/juvenile waiting for a parent?  Are my suspicions also correct that she appears to, very sadly, have Trichomoniasis?

Apologies for the poor photo; I didn’t want to get too close and scare her.

Many thanks

Bryony

  • Hi Bryony and welcome to the Community. Sorry your first post is a rather distressing one. You are correct that it's an adult female Bullfinch. When a bird is fluffed up like that and lethargic it's usually a sign that its unwell. You may well be right that it's Trichonomosis. Food collecting around the beak is often a sign. I think all you can do is follow the advice in the link. Clean everything thoroughly, remove and refresh possibly contaminated drinking water and consider removing feeders for a while.

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    Tony

    My Flickr Photostream 

  • Hi Tony,

    Thank you very much for your quick reply and info. I’ve cleaned everything up and will give feeding a rest for a wee while.

    This is such a terrible disease and so heartbreaking to see. The male bullfinch sat in the tree above calling for her for a couple of hours. I try so hard to keep everything clean and disinfected, even changing water multiple times a day, but it still occasionally finds a way back; I’m guessing with the pigeons.

    A sad day :/

    Thanks again.