Gutted

Kess73

My regular male Great tit, Olly, has been a very cheeky regular for a number of years now, and he taps on the window to be fed and is like a parrot on my shoulder when I am out in the back.

He was an orphaned fledgling in my garden some years back (both parents were killed) and I fed him and he grew to adulthood.

Year after year he has had successful broods, and other than during the moulting season, he is in and around my main garden a number of times each day and during the winter he roosts in one of the nest boxes.


On to today. He came to be fed about 30 minutes ago and he followed his usual pattern. He checks the window where my office is in the house (he never checks any other window) and when he spots me, he knocks until I come to the window.

I brought over some waxworm for him, and he hopped in the window to me. He then munched down three waxworm, and then as he grabbed a fourth and went to fly off I spotted a big lump, like a creamish/greyish pimple on the side of his neck. It was a dirty cream/grey in colour, full, and perfectly smooth. Would say that it was close to 1 cm in diameter.

Will of course clean and scrub the area, but am just so upset to see one of my long time regulars with this. Just stood there for about five minutes staring in the direction in which he flew off.


http://www.ufaw.org.uk/documents/GBHiavianpoxfactsheetNov09.pdf

V_Moth

Kess73 wrote: »

http://www.ufaw.org.uk/documents/GBHiavianpoxfactsheetNov09.pdf

The images in that pdf should come with a warning :P. Scant consolation, but even if he does pass on due to this disease, at least he got to successfully raise several new generations of GT's.

Kess73

V_Moth wrote: »

The images in that pdf should come with a warning :P. Scant consolation, but even if he does pass on due to this disease, at least he got to successfully raise several new generations of GT's.

He has been a right little baby making machine over the past number of years, but I was really taken aback when I saw the growth.

Got really upset by the fact that he could be gone, and the idea of him getting more and bigger growths and just trying to struggle on really started to play in my head like a horror film.

I think I times I get less upset with things that happen to people than animals tbh, as I can get very attached to animals. The fact he was a bit of a quirky bird with his window tapping and sitting on the shoulder like one of my robions used to do, made him a character.

The fact that it is not the most common thing is a kicker, coupled with the fact I will have to drastically change the feeding habits in the garden for a time now with regards to bird feeders etc.

Oh Hell Oui!

Sad news Kess its seems you have built a great relationship with the little guy, but great point made by V moth in the above post without you he would never have passed his genes on.

Kess73

He was back again this morning. Flew in all puffed up. And sat on the edge of my windowsill just staring out at the garden. He is still very alert to noise and movement around the garden, but he is not going near the feeders at all. He will still take (and devour) mealworm and waxworm.


He is the only bird that ever used that spot to perch, so I am scrubbing and disinfecting it a few times a day (using Ark Klens and a biological cleaner) and putting sprinkle supplement on the mealworm/waxworm he is taking. The bird bath I clean on a regular basis and also put citrosan into the water, but have upped the cleaning of the bird bath to at least once a day now as well.

The crazy thing going through my head is that he is back to die within a few metres of where the nest box was that he originally came out of.



Here he is some four or five summers back, about a month after both parent birds were killed.





I will get some pics later today of the lump so people can see what it looks like while it is still at the lump stage and not the open wound stage.

Half-cocked

If he has been around for a few years now he has long passed average life expectancy for a small bird (90% die in their first winter), so don't be too sad.

Kess73

Half-cocked wrote: »

If he has been around for a few years now he has long passed average life expectancy for a small bird (90% die in their first winter), so don't be too sad.

Oh I know that he has beaten the odds in that way, but I actualy have two birds older than him still in the garden in a blue tit (Shadow) and a blackbird (Blackie Yellowbeak)

Most of my garden birds have the usual short lifespan, but every now and then you get a few that become regulars for years and you get used to them being around and vice versa.





Here is a pic of him from Saturday for anyone who wants to see the growth. It can be clearly seen below his beak in the picture.




Have continued to use the ark klens on the spot I am feeding him on, and I have been using the probiotic sprinkles on every mealworm and waxworm I give him. Have also been putting more citrosan in a seperate water bowl for him and only putting it out when he is there and then taking it in (to dump content and reclean bowl) as soon as he leaves.


I don't want to get my hopes up too much (but I already have) but today he arrived to me like a rocket and not the sluggish puffed up bird he has been since late last week. He was tapping on the window and moving at pace, and was very very alert. What also happened this morning (and for the first time since he has taken ill) is that his mate arrived with him. She had been shunning him for the past four or so days whilst he was puffed up along with the blue tits.

This morning she arrived in tow with him and she took off after him when he left. He was also not puffed up like he was, and other than the lump on his breast, he looked a lot better and even the lump seemed to be looser or flatter today.

Oh Hell Oui!

http://www.pbase.com/davidwilliamsphotography/image/138685221

Could it possibly/ hopefully be a tick?

Kess73

Oh Hell Oui! wrote: »

http://www.pbase.com/davidwilliamsphotography/image/138685221

Could it possibly/ hopefully be a tick?

That did not even cross my mind as I have never seen a tick on a bird in real life up close.


The tick in the picture you put up is very similar in look to what Olly has on him.

Ticks to my knowledge feed on the blood of their host. Does anyone on here know if they fall off when full or stay there until the host dies? Would me putting probiotic sprinkle on his food, citrosan in the water he drinke/washes in, and using ark klen etc on any surfaces he uses (that I can get to), as well as him getting a steady supply of fresh food give him a better chance of staying strong until the tick is full, or does it mean the tick will stay put?



That is assuming it is a tick on him of course.

I will see him again in the early part of tomorrow, but I will be away from my house for a few days so it will be down to my house sitter to keep an eye out for him. That should not be a problem as she is used to my close to OCD levels of bird feeding and she knows the different spots that each of my regulars feeds in as well.

Oh Hell Oui!

If it is a tick it will drop off after it has had its fill , and hopefully olly will have no ill effects other than being weakened, but with you feeding him he should be ok. Let us know how he gets on in the next few days

Kess73

Oh Hell Oui! wrote: »

If it is a tick it will drop off after it has had its fill , and hopefully olly will have no ill effects other than being weakened, but with you feeding him he should be ok. Let us know how he gets on in the next few days

I was starting to hope against hope after his much more active and alert visits today, but your post has filled me with more hope that he has a fighting chance should it turn out to be a tick and not a growth.


Regardless of the final outcome, thank you for refilling my hope levels and redoubling my resolve to do what I can for him. I know people who don't have an interest in nature might think it mad to give a damn about a garden bird or any animal that is not a pet, but I get a lot of joy from nature and if I think I can make some difference in this case it won't be for the lack of trying.

V_Moth

Kess73 wrote: »

I get a lot of joy from nature and if I think I can make some difference in this case it won't be for the lack of trying.

All that matters

padi89

When i saw that photo i thought its a tick straight away. My dog picks them up now and again down the woods and they look exactly like that.

Kess73

Got back into Ireland this evening, and was told that he was feeding each day (and a number of times at that) and also that his mate was with him for most of the visits.

Then at a little after 19:00 tonight, he arrived for a feed with me there and he is like a new bird compared to what he was like towards the end of last week.

The lump is gone so it looks like Oh Hell Qui was spot on with that call, and I got a good look at him (the old trick of having a number of waxworm in the palm of the hand works marcels as he stays on the hand until he has finished three :d) and he looks a lot better and he is certainly back to being a gregarious little so and so.

Will keep a close eye on him for a few more days, but it does look like it was a tick that had him moving in slow motion and being all puffed up like a very sick bird.

Bsal

How is little Olly doing now? I hope he has fully recovered.

Kess73

Bsal wrote: »

How is little Olly doing now? I hope he has fully recovered.

He is more or less back to normal and he has put on the lost weight again. His plumage looks far better and, save for the pics I took of him, one would not believe how he looked when he was in bad shape.

kincsem

That is a lovely story and a great outcome. You are lucky to have such a friendly little bird.

Goldfinches desert my garden for months but in the last week they are wolfing down the nijer and sunflower seeds. They must have some alert system going as they all arrived just after I topped up the feeders today. I wash the feeders with an iodine produce from Haiths, and today I put some foul smelling cat repellant on the grass and garden path (Lidl/Aldi). In pouring rain the cat from next door was lying in wait in the wet grass (actually in a two foot high wildflower and grass mixture.)

Kinzig

Just seeing this now, definitley a tick, he should come fine..:)