Trichomonosis in British Goldfinches
Finches Friend are now in possession of confirmation produced by Garden Wildlife Health that British Goldfinches are being infected by and dying from Trichomonosis.
The three most common garden finches, The Greenfinch, The Chaffinch and the Goldfinch are all being killed by poor garden feeders and hygiene. Six million Greenfinches and Chaffinches gone in 19 years.
The disease is parasitic, the parasite is transmitted through saliva and faeces. The parasite can both live and replicate in damp food for up to 48 hours. It will be transmitted in, on and under Garden feeders
What can you do to help?
Don’t feed in any vessel open to the rain
Don’t feed in any vessel that enables birds to walk and defecate in food.
Don’t feed from a porous substrate
Try to limit the amount of species that can feed from any given point, by size for example.
Clean feeders thoroughly on a weekly basis or better
Do not use waste collection trays, suspended under feeders, they mix food, rainwater and faeces.
Don’t offer bird baths, provide drinking water in a ring which discourages the birds from defecating in the water. This can be achieved by a shallow dish with a 50mm smaller diameter bowl inverted in it.
If you see any lethargic or dead finches, stop feeding immediately and don’t restart for two weeks.
What will the industry do to help?
What will ZSL do? ….. Keep performing autopsies on dead animals, report their findings to the those funding the GWH and then carry on as normal.
What will the BTO do? ….. Wait two years until it’s too late, then write a scientific report stating the obvious, just as they did with Chaffinches.
What will the RSPB do? ….. Keep selling open tray window and ground feeders, keep selling secondary feeding trays, keep selling side port feeders, because hey the money is more important than the birds they were founded to protect.
Once again we ask the RSPB to “please release the testing process for your products!”
Mind the tumbleweed folks!
Science from CWHC.
Safe products from Finches Friend.
British Goldfinches are confirmed to have died from the parasitic disease Trichomonosis, which has decimated Greenfinch and Chaffinch populations over the last 20 years.
Finches Friend feeders are uniquely designed to feed clean dry food, from a perch.
Are these feeders safe for birds? What do you think?
RSPB Ground Feeding Table - Does this stop water getting to the food? Does this stop birds walking and defecating in the food?
RSPB Window Feeder - Does this stop water getting to the food? Does this stop birds walking and defecating in the food?
RSPB Seed Catcher and Pigeon Adapter - The RSPB have just announced a (yet another) study into Trichomonosis, where they state “For many decades, garden bird trichomonosis was mainly observed in pigeons and doves“.
They know pigeons are thought to have spread the disease to finches, yet introduce a product that brings the birds together! You couldn’t make it up!
