We have a male house finch that's been unusually tame this year. He comes to the feeders when we're near them and chirps at us when it's empty. The other day when I was out puttering in the yard, he let me get within a foot of him on the finch feeder.
The reason was soon apparent: He's completely blind in one eye and can hardly see out of the other one. I caught him and took pictures of him before releasing him again. If you're squeamish, you might not want to look at them: http://davesgarden.com/journal/viewentry/13620/index.html
I'd heard about this eye problem in the finch populations, and I'd seen some finches from a distance last year which appeared to be blind on one side; this is the first time I'd seen it up close, and it isn't pretty.
Here's information on the cause of this as well as information on preventing its spread (keep your feeders clean!):
U. of Nebraska: http://www.ianr.unl.edu/pubs/wildlife/nf355.htm
Wildbirds.com: http://www.wildbirds.com/protect_disease.htm
Cornell University: http://birds.cornell.edu/conservation/diseaseeffects/HFDSStudySystem.html
Cornell is doing an ongoing study on this problem as a part of its Project Feederwatch: http://birds.cornell.edu/hofi/
Poor fella...As easy as it was for me to catch him, I bet a cat will get him soon. We can't put him through a regiment of medications, so I didn't know what to do other than release him again.
Mycoplasmal Conjunctivitis in Wild Finches :(
oh gardenwife, what a sweet little bird!there's just nothing we can do to help except as you said keep those feeders clean :)
I am glad you got a good heart to take care of this bird as best as you can.
Someone from Cornell wrote back to me and said it is easy to treat with antibiotic eyedrops. But there are so many other infected finches in our area, it's just a drop in the bucket. We can't afford to take a wild bird to the vet for treatments when we haven't gotten our cat and dog spayed yet and there's more routine vaccinations coming up, though. :(
Howie saw the finch again today, so he's still plugging along.
This is awful!! Naturally I couldn't look at the photo!! First I thought it might be because of the food it was eating. Some animals are blinded because they are fed certain types of seed. I don't suppose this applies to birds though!! How sad :-(
I put that warning in with you, my sweet tenderhearted friend, in mind. :)
Oh Kimberley that was so kind of you to remember!!!! Sorry I'm such a softie!!!!