EDITED TO INCLUDE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON 2-7-2010 (Eilid)
This thread currently includes information to help identify: Avian Botulism
Trichomoniasis
Hi everyone
At the end of my update regarding a collared dove that I found in my garden yesterday, I mentioned there was further information I wished to discuss with the RSPB before starting this thread.
I hope it may be of interest to others on this site who are, like me, keen to learn. As I'm not an expert I have checked my facts before writing, but I do encourage anyone seeking more detailed information on this subject, to visit the RSPB website or to contact a local animal hospital.
The dove in my garden was suffering from and subsequently died from severe starvation. In this case the most likely cause was that the dove had been inadvertently shut in a shed, garage or greenhouse, for some time and was therefore unable to find food.
Starvation can, though, be an indication of trichomoniasis, a condition caused by a parasite. This disease tends to become more widely spread over the summer months.
A great deal of very useful information is available on the RSPB site and this forum, regarding identification of fledglings and young birds and what to do if we feel concerned about them.
The RSPB site also contains guidance on what to do should we feel concerned about a sick or injured adult animal.
However because the focus for most of us at this time of year is so much on young birds, I feel there is a risk that sick birds could be overlooked, with potentially serious consequences for the local bird population, in the case of trichomoniasis,not to mention suffering for the bird.
In most cases non-intervention is usually the wisest approach, but there is also a case for wise intervention. In my experience adult birds that can be picked up (stunned birds being an exception) are generally already very sick and unlikely to survive, but on occasion, expert care can save the animals life.
Birds with trichomoniasis are best settled in a box away from other birds to limit the spread of the parasite, or in severe cases it may be more compassionate to ask a local vet to end the animals suffering.
By feeding the birds in my garden I am already intervening. It is my personal opinion that because of this I am also likely to attract sick animals looking for a safe place, near to food and water. This, I feel, brings with it a duty of care for those animals who may need help. My approach is to get expert advice so that I can act in the best interests of the animal.
Having re-read this I am concerned that it may come across as a lecture from a new member which is not my intention at all. My visit to the wildlife rescue centre simply reminded me that we can sometimes wait too long to help an animal, affecting it chances of survival.
Eilid
"out beyond ideas of right doing and wrong doing there is a field. I will meet you there" Rumi
Thanks Eilid for your thread.
I also didn't realise that this disease meant that birds were dying of starvation. Now I am better informed and will carefully watch for evidence in my own garden.
Best wishes Chris
Click Here to see my photos
Dear Sparrow
Thank you for posting the photograph and for telling us about him. I suspect because he could fly that it would have been very difficult for you to have caught him. Your photo is so helpful in helping those of us who haven't seen the effect it has, to identify the signs.
Pip is right that this thread was inspired by my experience with the dove. I guess the more that we can pool our experiences and knowledge the more we can do for wildlife, even though some will haunt us with regrets.
Eilid x
Hi Chris,
The symptoms are horrible. The virus affects their throats making them unable swallow. They try to eat and drink but nothing goes down. You are as likely to see one on a feeder attempting to eat as on the ground, and would think little of it because it appears to be eating.
Cheers, Linda.
See my photos on Flickr
Hi Chris, Judi and Sparrow
Apparently this inability to swollow means that they may have food around their beaks and may also dribble which is sadly one of the ways the parasite is transferred. It can also be transferred by passing food to each other.
So cruel, but as Maisie mentioned in an earlier post there are some treatments available if it is possible to catch the bird
As an example of how well those medications can work, here's a young woodpigeon with canker (trichomoniasis) that we had a few years ago. I honestly didn't think he was going to survive.
And here's the same bird after a course of treatment:
So, if you can get hold of the bird, please do! If the bird is fluffed up and sleepy, try to sneak up on it with a coat or towel and chuck it over the bird.
A closed mouth gathers no foot.
WOW Maisie, what a difference. Thanks for posting these - just shows how we can help if we are vigilant enough.
Hi Maisie
My first reaction was WOW too. So good to see the difference the medication can make. I have a friend who lives near a rookery who uses the teatowel method. I'd forgotten until you mentioned it. Thanks :-)
A very good, thoughtful thread, Eilid. I so agree that it is important to make a difference between a fledgling and a sick adult, since the best action is so different in the two situations.
The picture of the greenfinch Sparrow posted is a good example of a seriously sick bird, but do remember that the amount of discharge does vary, and some birds have very little of wetting on its feathers. With regard to trichomoniasis, which incidentally is a parasitic disease rather than a virus, the many symptoms include fluffing up and lethargy, reluctance to fly, inability to swallow food (the bird spends ages manipulating a piece of food in its mouth and eventually drops it), food particles stuck to the beak, discharge of saliva from the mouth, and sometimes it may even be possible to see a swelling in the throat area of the bird. What we need to remember is that a sick bird may exhibit any number and combination of the symptoms, and that some of the symptoms are same as for salmonella, for instance.
Maisie is right that there are treatments that can be administered in controlled conditions to at least some birds. The proviso is of course that the bird has been caught early enough for the treatment to be successful. Far too often the bird is too far gone for any help by the time it can be caught. This is, sadly, often the case with finches. I have observed the post mortem of a number of finches; the parasite makes such a mess of the bird's insides that it is often a wonder how they have survived as long as they have. Not a pretty sight, and definitely not for the squeamish. There is certainly a higher likelihood of successful treatment with pigeons than with finches. I would like to add a word of caution with regard to these medicines. Some of the treatments that are used on pigeons are themselved toxic to finches, and so great care must be taken before any drug is chosen to treat a finch. Also, since veterinary medicines can only be used in controlled conditions where it is possible to adequately dose all birds that need treatment, they cannot be put in with the feed or into a bird bath, because there is no control over what bird takes the drug and in what quantities.
Trichomoniasis can be seen in birds any time of the year, but it is very seasonal. Eilid's post is particularly timely, as within the next 4-6 weeks we will be entering the next 'tricho season', so it is worth all of us to be vigilant in case sick birds turn up at the garden feeders. The RSPB is continuing the monitoring and research work into garden bird diseases (all diseases, not only trichomoniasis), and so if any of you are finding sick birds, or dead birds where other causes such as cat attacks and window collisions are not the cause, I do encourage you to fill in the garden bird disease recording form you will find in the advice pages of the website. All reports are very useful for the work we are doing on this topic.
I agree with Sparrow, Judi's blackbird is most likely suffering from feather mites. With a bit of luck, he will grow the feathers back at the moulting time later in the summer. We have a bald blue tit visiting the feeders here outside the office. The lack of feathers does not seem to bother him at all, and he is quite bossy, driving other blue tits and great tits away when he wants to come in for a feed.
I will certainly be watching out for this in the future. Thanks to all for raising it.
Pipit
I will also be watching out for it, and thanks Eilid for starting the thread, and to Trochilus for the sound official advice.