How to Clean Your Feeders

From Audubon Magazine
What Does the Avian Flu Surge Mean for Your Bird Feeders?
As H5N1 spreads rapidly, wild birds remain at risk. Here’s what to know about the outbreak and how to keep your feathered visitors safe.

Four sparrows eat seed at a feeder.
Chipping Sparrows. Photo: Karen Shweiky/Audubon Photography Awards

By Maddie Burakoff
Associate Editor, Audubon magazine
Published February 24, 2025
Find Bird-Friendly Native Plants

Find Bird-Friendly Native Plants
Want to attract more birds? Learn which plants are best for your area with our free guide.

Learn more
Key points:

Since late 2024, the avian influenza virus H5N1 has been spreading rapidly through wild bird populations, possibly spurred by fall migration.
Waterfowl and seabirds have been hit hard, though infections in songbirds remain uncommon.
Experts say feeders don’t pose a major risk, but you should clean them regularly and track guidance from local and state wildlife authorities.
__________

Wild birds are facing a dangerous moment for avian influenza. Since late 2024, wildlife agencies and rehabilitators across the U.S. have reported major die-offs of birds linked with the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1: Snow Geese falling out of the sky in Pennsylvania, Red-breasted Mergansers washing ashore in Chicago, Eared Grebes piling up around Utah’s Great Salt Lake. Meanwhile, outbreaks have torn through poultry and dairy farms, infected a range of mammals from pet cats to elephant seals, and raised the concerns for a potential crossover to a human pandemic.

“We’re in the throes—or maybe at the end of the throes—of a pretty active period for avian influenza,” one possibly spurred by fall migration, says Richard Webby, a virologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital who focuses on influenza.

So what does this surge mean for people who feed birds? Feeders don’t currently present a major risk of spread, experts told Audubon, especially as the virus doesn’t commonly infect the songbirds that visit feeding stations. Still, to protect avian life—along with people and other animals—it’s important to stay up to date with the latest guidance from local, state, and federal wildlife authorities. As officials monitor the virus, they may recommend temporarily removing feeders, avoiding certain habitat areas, reporting sick or dead birds, or taking other precautions. Audubon, for its part, recommends removing feeders if at least one of your local agencies advises taking them down.

Scientists have been on high alert about avian flu since 2020, when a new, “supercharged” lineage of the virus—known as clade 2.3.4.4b—started to take off, says Webby. After exploding in Europe, this version of the virus showed up in Canada in 2021 and quickly worked its way down through the Americas, eventually reaching all the way to Antarctica.

Versions of avian influenza have long circulated in bird populations, but in the past, they mainly cropped up in domestic poultry and transferred from farm to farm, says Johanna Harvey, a wildlife disease ecologist at the University of Rhode Island. With this latest version, though, the virus has been infecting a broad variety of wild birds, spreading far and wide along their migratory routes. “Now, wild bird migration is really what is driving the persistence of this disease, and the geographic spread and range,” Harvey says. “And the scale of the mortalities is larger than we’ve ever seen before.”

The virus doesn’t commonly infect the songbirds that visit feeding stations.
The virus has ebbed and flowed in recent years, often seeing an uptick after fall migration. Much of last year saw a slight reprieve in infections, which Harvey attributes to some birds having immunity: “A lot of birds got infected early on,” she says. “If they survived, it means they were able to mount an immune response, and then they have antibodies.” But infections and deaths in wild birds came roaring back at the end of 2024, possibly because migrating populations included birds with waning antibodies and juveniles that had never been exposed to the virus, she adds.

Recent months have also seen the rise of a new genotype of the virus, D1.1, which quickly became the dominant version spreading along the flyways. Though Webby says it’s hard to draw direct comparisons to earlier years, since birds’ levels of immunity have changed, this genotype seems to be well adapted to infecting wild birds and caused significant die-offs during fall migration.

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which tracks highly pathogenic avian influenza across the country, has reported more than 12,000 cases detected in wild birds since 2022. And this is probably a small fraction of the true toll, Harvey points out, since disease surveillance of wild bird populations remains limited.

How to Clean Your Feeders
Follow these easy steps to prevent any type of disease spread.

1.) Dispose of uneaten seed rather than dumping it on the ground. Leftovers can attract pests.

​​​​​​2.) Scrub with soap and water (for hummingbird feeders, skip the soap), followed by a 15-minute soak in a 50-50 vinegar-and-water solution to sanitize.

3.) Remove any residue with a thorough water rinse. If your feeder is dishwasher-safe, let your appliance’s soap and hot water do the work.

4.) No matter how you clean, let the feeder completely dry before refilling it with food. Moisture is a sure way for fungus or bacteria to flourish.