pine siskin, to funny

She gorged herself, then fell asleep with a seed in her mouth. She slept for about 7 or 8 minutes until a sparrow landed and woke her up.

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That's not normal - looks like a sick bird.

Not funny at all, that bird is very ill.

But eating, which is a good sign

This bird looks to have a salmonella bacterial infection.. it comes from flocking birds, concentrated at bird feeders, usually in the winter... they catch this by direct contact with the infected bird or by the food or water contaminated by their feces.... if that is "green sprouts" of seed I see in your bird feeder, it might be a good idea to clean your feeder with a 10% solution of bleach and water... if you have cleaned your feeder regularly, it could have caught this disease elsewhere.

db

Actually, over the last 4 to 6 weeks I've seen several of the male and female pine siskins and male and female house finches do this. Most of the time it's while sitting in the sunflower seed feeder so I haven't gotten a good picture. This bird is not sick.

this one certainly looks sick

DanThoman wrote in post #12084658
Actually, over the last 4 to 6 weeks I've seen several of the male and female pine siskins and male and female house finches do this. Most of the time it's while sitting in the sunflower seed feeder so I haven't gotten a good picture. This bird is not sick.

Birds just don't stuff their crops - loosen their belts - then have 'forty winks'.
If I were you, for the bird's sake, I would remove the feeders for a few weeks.

DanThoman wrote in post #12084658
Actually, over the last 4 to 6 weeks I've seen several of the male and female pine siskins and male and female house finches do this. Most of the time it's while sitting in the sunflower seed feeder so I haven't gotten a good picture. This bird is not sick.

These are the types of birds DB is refering to...flocking birds. This disease is common in House Finches. These birds are sick (not saying it's your feeder causing these problems) but the best thing to do is remove them, clean them and put them back up in about a week or two. The sick birds will move on and not infect the other birds that come in contact with it at your feeding station.

A bird filling itself and than falling asleep on the feeder like this is NOT normal behavior...listen to what everyone is advising you to do.

I have to do this at least once a year when I see House Finchs doing the exact same you describe....feeding itself so much than falling asleep. Usually their feathers are puffed out and unkept like your Siskins feathers look.

It will not last long, I had exactly the same thing happen last year, the fat thing seemed to be eating all the time, but it was so weak.here is a photo an hour before it died. Siskins seem to be problematic to this disease.
Wash your feeders as has been mentioned. Try not to use enclosed glass or plastic feeders unless you are going to be faithful in kee[Ing them clean.

Its sick. This may be new to you, but keep an eye on them.

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Ok, the feeders are down. The feeder the siskin was sitting on was newly installed just over a week ago and the green was not sprouted seed. Last month I had hundreds of siskins and gold finches at the feeders at any one time and have not cleaned the feeders since the end of December. And I thought I had a cute picture.

Good on you Dan. Be vigilant.We appreciate these little ones for the enjoyment they give us throughout the year, this is the least we can do for them

I tend to only partially fill my feeders, for two reasons
- One it gets emptied out daily, so no accumulated mess
- squirrels, make a mess of the whole yard & will eat me right on to the street
I had 7 squirrels in my yard yesterday