(Purple finch Affected Most By Parasite)
A bird disease that had moved rapidly through Eastern Canada now seems to have subsided.
It’s spread by an avian parasite, trichomoniasis.
It causes an infection in the throats of birds, making them unable to swallow.
Dave Currie, president of the Nova Scotia Bird Society, says it’s safe to put out bird feeders because the colder temperatures have killed the parasite or at least rendered in ineffective.
However he says the parasite will be back when the warmer weather returns in the summer.
Currie says they’re hoping it won’t be as bad as this year.
“We’re really hopeful that because of what people did this year, overwhelming support of people taking their feeders down, that maybe we won’t see it as significant next year as it was this year. That remains to be seen. We do expect it to be seen.”
Currie says the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative has a web site and any sick birds can be reported to them.
He says the Cooperative has 106 official reports of dead birds spanning Quebec to Newfoundland and Labrador but Currie believes that number is low and says the actual number of deaths is likely considerably higher, particularly among Purple Finches.
Here’s a link to the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative: