House Finch Disease Survey
The House Finch Disease Survey is easy to do: just record the number of House Finches and American Goldfinches at your feeders and the number of diseased birds, if any, then send your data to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The HFDS website shows you what to look for. You also note whether there are any other kinds of birds with this disease. I once saw a House Sparrow that appeared to have the disease. I sent a photo of the bird to Cornell.
For a long time, I didn't see any house finches, goldfinches or other birds that appeared to have the disease. I still submitted my results, though, since knowing about the absence of birds or of birds with disease is just as valuable information as knowing how many birds are affected.
After years of recording healthy birds, I found some birds with the disease starting in the 2004-2005 season. I have to admit I was beginning to wonder whether it was worth bothering with this project after so many years of never seeing the disease, but now that the disease is in my area, I'm glad I had been submitting the data. I suspect that these positive disease findings are much more valuable against the backdrop of all those negative results than it would have been otherwise. There is no fee to participate in this project.
Here's a house finch with the disease. (The photo was taken through the window screen.)
Last updated: 01/28/2009
