Fat finches in the garden today 12 February 2020 at 4:22PM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 5 replies 223 views

longwalks1

had a couple of hours bird watching from the kitchen today, first bit of time to do so this year and really pleased to see so many varieties including a robin, lots of goldfinches, sparrows, greenfinch, bullfinches and jackdaws etc

one of the greenfinches was huge (as was one of the goldfinches), I mean the size of a tennis ball. Stupid question, is it just pregnant?  Do pregnant birds get visibly bigger?

p00hsticks

I'm no expert, but it could be that they are suffering from salmonellosis, which finches are particularly susceptible to and (among other diseases) apparently causes them to puff up their feathers. If it is, take care when handling any bird feeders etc  https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/gbw/gardens-wildlife/garden-birds/disease/salmonellosis

gamston

noticed a few birds like this this winter around about 12, 
I didn't noticed any last year

Catsacor

Possibly Trichomonosis.
This affected thousands of the Finch family about 5 or 6 years ago.
It was awful to see the infected birds, the most obvious sign that I recognised was the larger body size, inability to eat - leading to lethargy, and shaking their head.

longwalks1

Thanks all, quite sad to see if it is all illness/infection.  Poor things. I clean all my feeders every few days, hopefully wont see too much of it this spring and summer

gamston

think I've had up to 20 little dead birds this winter (never seen it before) green finches, chaffinches, blue tits, not sure if its the feeders as squarrils feed from aswell and they look ok