Contagious house finch eye disease reported in Walnut Creek area

If you’re seeing finches with red, swollen and crusty eyes at your backyard bird feeders and baths, take those down, officials at Lindsay Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospital say.

Officials say the hospital is seeing more cases than normal of the highly contagious house finch eye disease, which can cause blindness in finches and some other birds, and the birds are coming from throughout the region.

The best way to prevent the spread is to temporarily remove feeders and baths where the disease is seen.

“The type of conjunctivitis is highly contagious,” said Aireo Shipman, manager of Lindsay’s wildlife hospital. “Bird feeders and bird baths concentrate large numbers of birds, so they congregate there and then the disease is passed rapidly.”

Shipman says that when birds with the condition are identified at a bird feeder or bath, feeders should be taken down and spilled seed raked up. “Then birds will return to foraging normally and it greatly reduces the chance of other birds getting the disease,” Shipman said. “Bird baths should be taken down as well and cleaned.”

In extreme cases, the disease can cause blindness in the birds. The infection is caused by the bacterium Mycoplasma gallisepticum, which is common in domestic turkeys and chickens. It was first observed in house finches in 1994, and the disease has spread to American goldfinches, evening grosbeaks and purple finches.

Lindsay treated 74 cases in 2017, and just 21 last year. But so far this year, 80 birds suffering with the disease have been brought to the Walnut Creek center.

The disease is spread through discharge from the eyes and nose, and is transmitted when healthy birds come in contact with ailing birds, which is most common at feeders and bird baths.

Shipman recommends cleaning feeders and baths at least once a week, or between seed refills or water changes. They should be washed with soap and water, then soaked in a 10-percent bleach solution for 10 minutes. The feeders and baths should then be rinsed and allowed to dry before refilling.

Wooden feeders can’t be disinfected properly, so metal or plastic should be used.