DFG News Archive

DFG Asks Northern Californians to Remove Bird Feeders to Slow the Spread of Avian Disease

The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) is encouraging northern California residents to remove bird feeders for at least one month to help slow an outbreak of salmonellosis, a disease affecting small brown birds known as pine siskins that live primarily in wooded areas.

Human exposure to and contraction of the disease from wild birds is rare and unlikely, especially if basic precautions are taken. However, pets can contract the disease, especially if they are exposed to fecal matter below the feeders.

Pine siskins are brown, streaked birds with yellow patches on the wings and tail. Their diet consists primarily of seeds, making bird feeders particularly attractive. Birds contract the disease from one another, most often by eating fecal-contaminated food - but also by sticking their heads inside tube feeders where their eyes come in contact with the feeder itself.

California’s West Nile virus hotline has received many tips from concerned citizens reporting dead pine siskins throughout the forested areas of northern California, from Grass Valley to Eureka. Salmonellosis is a bacterial disease and is not related to the West Nile virus.

To help control the disease, DFG biologists are urging residents to discontinue feeding birds for at least 30 days, and when feeding is resumed, to:

• Replace all food in birdfeeders and water in birdbaths daily. Clean up old food around feeders daily, and only use small amounts of food.
• Decontaminate feeders by using a 10 percent solution of household bleach in water, preferably cleaned just prior to adding new food.
• Spread small amounts of seed over a large area in the sun, instead of using bird boxes or feeders. Also, vary the location of seeds to avoid encouraging a concentration of birds at one site.
• Replace wooden bird feeders with plastic or metal. Wood harbors salmonella bacteria and cannot be sanitized as effectively.
• Use gloves when handling dead birds and bird feeders and wash hands with anti-bacterial soap when finished.

This is the second time in less than a year that DFG has asked that birdfeeders be removed to slow the spread of a disease affecting birds. In July 2004, DFG asked that all bird feeders be removed for the purpose of slowing an outbreak of trichomoniasis in California’s mourning dove and band-tailed pigeon populations. More detailed information about that disease and tips on controlling it and other avian diseases can be found at www.dfg.ca.gov/news/news04/04060.html.