One of the highlights of the CFO Convention was the male Golden-winged Warbler
foraging for multiple days in Jane and John Stulp's yard south of Lamar. I was
asked to be in Jane's yard on May 6th to help with the many field trip groups
coming that morning. For Peter Gent's group and perhaps a couple others, I
want to correct some incorrect information I gave regarding the item that bird
was eating. The insect was the European Elm Flea Weevil (Orchestes alni). One
larva per leaf of this introduced weevil makes a fairly conspicuous,
oval-shaped, brown, mined out area (the insect is between the upper and lower
layers of the leaf) along the leaf margin. At this time of year, inside each
brown mine is a whitish weevil larva. The GwWarbler and other birds were
gently peeling open the mines with both their beaks and claws. With surgical
precision, they then removed the tiny larvae at the rate of about 5-10 per
minute. I was calling the insect the "Elm Leafminer", a type of introduced
sawfly, and realized my error in the dark that night while thinking about my
food field trip the next morning. Sorry for the confusion.
For those of you who get "Colorado Birds", I am writing about European Elm Flea
Weevil for the next "The Hungry Bird" column. This was covered in the July
2012 issue but (just like blueberries, buttered popcorn, and snap peas) there
are reasons I think this food item is worth revisiting.
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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