Trichomoniasis in captive sparrow hawks.

The flagellate Tric/tomnonas gal/imiae has been recovered from the upper digestive tract of a variety of birds, but its primary host is the domestic pigeon (Levine, 1961. Protozoan Parasites of Domestic Animals and Man. Burgess PubI. Co., Minneapolis. p. 98-99). T. gal/mae is believed to cause a disease in birds of prey called “frounce”, which is characterized by yellow caseous nodules in the upper digestive system and loss of weight (Stabler, 1954, Exp. Parasitol., 3(4): 368). However, Trainer et al. (1968, Condor, 70(3): 276-277) found that nematodes of the genus Capi//arii can cause oral and esophageal lesions that could be readily mistaken for “frounce” in wild Gyrfalcons. They also point out some of the reports of “frounce” being due to T. gal/mae may be incorrect since often the diagnoses were made from gross observations alone.