Hmm. About 6-8 weeks ago, my husband found a mourning dove in the back yard. The bird was obviously very ill–he was resting on the ground, fluffed up, and closing his/her eyes. S/he had enough wherewithal to attempt to fly from us, but all they could manage was to move up about 6-12" and then about 5-10’ away from us, at the most. Usually it was more like a foot or so. I put on a pair of latex gloves and moved the dove to a quiet, planted area, but not surprisingly, it was dead by morning. (Their poor mate was on the telephone wire hanging above the yard, watching and waiting.)
This is unusual, but hey, birds get sick. I was bound to come across an ill one sooner or later.
The odd thing is, tonight, a male purple finch was in our backyard exhibiting identical symptoms. My husband initially thought the bird was injured, but I watched it closely for a while, and it behaved like the dove–it would flutter and fumble a few inches along the ground, occasionally managing a few feet of flight. Left alone, he fluffed himself up and tucked his beak under a wing…poor little dude was definitely not well.
Neither bird had any obvious wounds, so I’m assuming they were both ill, not injured.
Is this a sign of some sort of avian illness that might be affecting our local species? (I’m in southern California, just east of Pasadena.) West Nile, from what I understand, affects more bluebirds and crows than these species, but wildlife study is a hobby and not a profession for me, so others I’m sure know far better.
I know when West Nile essentially erased the crow population around here a few years ago, local animal control wanted us to report any ill birds. I’m wondering if I should do the same here, or just mark it up to the unusual happening unusually close together.