Peter's question is a good one and surely it is reasonable to think the
answer would be yes. It would take a huge amount of work to prove it
(probably in microbiology, although the disease is a virus not a
bacterium or protozoan, so that makes it even harder). It would hardly
be possible to have an experimental control unless it was all done with
captive birds. In which case it would not be hard to investigate, but
not a nice experiment. Parrots are mostly social anyway, so feeding
tables are only one of many places of transfer. As for Margaret's
suggestion, I disagree, as both upper and lower mandibles are clearly
overgrown. I'm not clear about whether part of the upper mandible is
broken off and hanging loose (which I suspect is what Margaret saw as
though he has something jammed in his beak between the two jaws), or if
that is something odd on the photo. The feathers aren't greatly affected
according to that photo, some loss of feathers on the head.
Philip
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Ormay
Sent: Friday, 3 June 2011 8:41 PM
To: CanberraBirds
Subject: sick gang gang
Would feeding tables be locations where such diseases are likely to be
spread? Are we being cruel by being kind and feeding birds?
Cheers
Peter
|
