Does that look clean to you? Contaminated feeders threaten human, avian health.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—A salmonella outbreak in parts of the United States is killing off songbirds, and backyard birders everywhere should take precautions to help keep not only their feathered friends, but themselves, safe from the disease. “This bacterial disease occurs in wildlife in regular cycles, and we appear to be in one of those cycles,” says Jim Parkhurst, associate professor of wildlife at Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources. “The best action that people who feed birds can take at this time is to practice good sanitation with their feeding stations.”

THE DETAILS: So far the salmonella outbreak among birds has been documented on the east coast, from Maryland south through Appalachia. A significant number of deaths of perching birds such as finches, which are particularly common to bird feeding stations, have been affected by the outbreak. When people become ill from salmonella, they usually recover. But for birds, it’s a different story, and an infection usually leads to rapid death. In a crowded feeding area, many birds can pick up the disease if they come in contact with infected birds’ fecal droppings. (Although some bird food manufacturers recalled peanut-containing products earlier this year as part of the salmonella-contaminated peanut recall, officials are not linking that incident to this avian outbreak.)

WHAT IT MEANS: If you have a bird feeder in your yard, the last thing you want to do is make visiting birds sick, let along catch something yourself. But getting rid of your feeder isn’t the answer. As the first-ever State of the Birds report recently showed, our winged friends are in serious decline and need all the help they can get.

Here’s how to keep yourself and your yardbirds salmonella-free: