Frozen birds

[Grizzerbear]

The other day my oldest daughter found a mourning dove froze on our front porch next to my pallet of firewood and texted a picture to me wwhwwhiwwhwwhilwwhwwhiwwhwwhile I was at work. Yesterday while filling my squirrel and bird feeders i found a red bellied wood pecked dead on top of the squirrel feeder and then a finch dead not far from it in the melting snow next to some wood stacks. Has anyone else ever experienced multiple birds dying from extreme cold. I am guessing they froze obviously but it seems pretty logical since we rarely get as cold as we just did. Not since 1889 I believe.

 

[begreen]

It could be that they are dying from salmonella poisoning from a contaminated feeder in the neighborhood. This is showing up a lot on the west coast. Audubon is urging all to stop feeding birds for a month. A huge wave of pine siskins that showed up in the US this winter has also brought this highly contagious disease with them. If one feels that they must have feeders out, they are urging that they be taken in at night and sterilized before putting them out again in the morning.
(broken link removed to https://seattleaudubon.org/learn/birds-of-wa/bird-facts/bird-diseases/salmonellosis/)

 

[Grizzerbear]

Hmmm....I never heard of that. Maybe I will quit putting corn in the squirrel feeder for a while and bleach them. See what happens. I always take my blue bird boxes down after each spring and do the same. The bird seed I normally just throw on the ground but they do happen into the squirrel feeder especially the wood peckers.

After reading that I probably should get more feeders to spread the birds out as well instead of them all concentrating to one and start cleaning them regularly. I never thought about it but it does create a perfect environment to spread disease. I guess I should treat them no different than my hummingbird feeders. Thanks @begreen.