Hello all, Yes, American Goldfinches can be infected with the same bacterium that causes conjunctivitis in House Finches, and infections can lead to the same sort of conjunctivitis disease. However, it appears that a much smaller proportion of goldfinches that are infected will actually show signs of the disease than with House Finches and typically the disease is less severe in goldfinches than in House Finches. Those are the general patterns that we have found. There is also the possibility that the conjunctivitis could be caused by an avian pox virus: the symptoms can appear similar from a distance. My understanding is that this would be more expected in western North America than around here, and so my impression is that the diseased birds that Caroline and Marie have seen are likely caused by the Mycoplasma bacteria that have been circulating in House Finches since the mid-1990s.
Wesley Hochachka -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Marie P Read Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2011 8:29 PM To: Caroline Manring; CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: RE: [cayugabirds-l] Goldfinch conjunctivitis? I have had a young goldfinch with what looks to be conjunctivitis at my feeder lately. Marie Marie Read Wildlife Photography 452 Ringwood Road Freeville NY 13068 USA Phone 607-539-6608 e-mail [email protected] http://www.marieread.com Now on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marie-Read-Wildlife-Photography/104356136271727 ________________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of Caroline Manring [[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2011 8:19 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Goldfinch conjunctivitis? I'm wondering whether goldfinches get conjunctivitis the way House Finches have been-- my cousin found a goldfinch that looked to be suffering from something similar to the conjuncitivitis I've seen in House Finches, though I couldn't see details from the photo. I'd never run into a goldfinch with this problem before. Does anyone know about this? Thanks, Caroline Manring -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
