Time To Clean Those Feeders

I got this rather arty photo of house finches with the WingScapes Camera. The female house finch flying in behind the domed feeder looks like she's doing some weird interpretive dance. Speaking of finches, there are some reports this week in the news that there is a salmonella outbreak going on in Arkansas and New York. I linked to a couple of articles over at the Birding Business News Blog--now is would be a good time to clean you bird feeders and you'd be doing a tremendous service to migrating birds. Here's a goldfinch and purple finch sharing a tray that I digiscoped yesterday. Birds can spread salmonella by depositing fecal matter in trays (or on the ground) and then it gets mixed in with spilled seeds. Cornell Lab has some good tips of what to do if you see diseased birds at your feeder. If you can't keep your feeders clean, consider paying a kid to do it or find out if you local bird store offers a feeder cleaning service. If you can't keep your feeders clean...then you probably shouldn't be feeding birds.