Dear cobirders, I received this posting from the Boulder Culinary Gardeners' listserv, and it seemed interesting enough to post on the cobirds listserv. I am posting it with the writer's permission- his email is below.
[email protected] From: John Bregar To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 8:56 PM Subject: Plant-eating Siskins! Bob Powell asked me to post this report of strange Pine Siskin behavior: Bob lives in one of the forest communities in the Florida River drainage NE of Durango. He puts out seeds for birds, and Pine Siskins are one of his most common visitors. He planted some cultivated flowers around his home, most of which have been ravaged by rock squirrels and such, but one of the plants he purchased, an unidentified cultivated membor of the aster (sunflower) family, has suffered attacks from another source. Pine Siskins! Pine Siskins are eating the leaves off this plant. Bob says they are not eating the seedheads, nor are they eating insects on the leaves, but they are actually slicing the leaves into pieces and eating them! I have never heard of such bizzare behavior in Pine Siskins. Does anyone have an explanation? John Bregar -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
