05/10/2026
Hello all, it’s been a while! 👋
We thought we’d finally give an update on what’s been happening behind the scenes.
Firstly, thank you so much to everyone who sent their love and condolences for the losses we’ve been faced with. It has helped us survive and pull through what has probably been the most challenging period our sanctuary has ever faced.
We know you’re probably wondering how things are going, and what caused so many bird deaths.
Long story short: we still don’t have a definitive answer.
We have been holding off on posting in the hopes we would have an answer by now, but alas, this has been a torturously long process while we wait for endless rounds of disease testing.
What we do know:
It was NOT bird flu. All deceased birds have had samples collected and every bird has come back negative for H5/HPAI. It was always very low on the list of possibilities, but we had to rule it out, and thank goodness it wasn’t this.
Necropsies have shown enlarged nodules on the spleens of several birds, indicating that it was likely a different infection.
The vet’s first guess was avian chlamydiosis, however many of the deceased birds had tested negative for chlamydia upon intake, and a second round of testing has so far come back negative. We have now sent off tissue samples for further histopathology examination.
In the meantime, we have brought every surviving canary and finch inside from the aviaries, and for the last several weeks they have all been quarantined in a spare bedroom.
We have been busy treating them all with an extended course (45 days!) of doxycycline, as per our vet’s advice.
In total, we have lost 22 birds to this mystery illness. One was a Gouldian finch, and the remaining were all zebra finches or canaries.
The silver lining:
We have not had any more birds die since the 26th September. Touch wood - but our remaining flock members all appear to be survivors at this point. They will all remain in quarantine until at least the end of this month.
This entire ordeal has thankfully been limited to the one aviary. All of our budgies/small parrots, plus our non-native birds (sparrows, starlings, blackbirds, and doves) remain completely healthy, and have been able to happily stay in their aviaries.
We remain closed to intakes for now, as our quarantine setup is full with resident birds. We are also trying to recover from exhaustion, burnout, and grief for all the little lives we’ve lost.
Thank you again for all your support and sticking with us in the meantime. Pictured is one of the wild sparrows who comes to visit the aviaries each day, and he is currently busy raising babies in our roof cavity (we don’t mind - who are we to say no to that little face 🥺🤎)
