Thank you, David for the dietary information on the pyrrhuloxia. Interesting as always.
Carol Blackard carolblackard.com Sent from my iPhone > On Feb 13, 2022, at 9:29 PM, DAVID A LEATHERMAN <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Carol, Linda and anyone else interested, I have cut and pasted below the > section on pyrrhuloxia diet from the "Birds of the World" account by Robert > Tweit and Christopher Thompson. > > Photos I have seen of the current Colorado bird show it at a black oil > sunflower feeder. The fruits of hackberry are technically called drupes. At > this time of year the reddish pulp of each fruit is mostly eroded/withered > and what remains is a hard pit dangling from a thin stalk (or resting on the > ground). I see more birds eating the fresh fruits in late summer/autumn, > probably for their pulp mostly, with the pits being excreted. However, I > have seen a few birds like juncos and house finches eating the fruits of > hackberry in winter when they must be crunching the rock-hard seeds. > Pyrrhuloxias certainly appear to have the beak to handle hard seeds, so > perhaps the association with hackberry is more than just positioning for a > feeder visit. Verification welcome. > > Dave Leatherman > Fort Collins > > Diet > Major Food Items > In Texas, wide variety of seeds, including bristle grass (Setaria spp.), > doveweed (Croton texensis), sandbur (Cenchrus spp.), panicum (Panicum spp.), > sorghum, and pigweed (Chenopodium album), and fruits of cactus (Opuntia spp.) > and nightshade (Solanum spp.), as well as grasshoppers, caterpillars > (Lepidoptera), beetles (Coleoptera), stinkbugs (Pentatomidae), and cicadas > (Cicadidae). McAtee (McAtee 1908a) suggested that Pyrrhuloxia prefers > grasshoppers to caterpillars to beetles and eats much less fruit than > Northern Cardinal does. > > In s. Arizona, prefers sunflower (Helianthus spp.) seeds and “peanut butter > suet” at feeders, although also eats other seeds and household scraps > (Anderson 1968). > > Quantitative Analysis > From McAtee 1908a . In Aug and Sep, stomachs collected in Texas contained > 71.2% vegetable matter and 28.8% animal matter. Most of the vegetable matter > (53.1% of total) was “grass seeds,” primarily yellow foxtail (Chaetecholoa > glauca) and bur grass (Cenchrus tribuloides), which provide 43.6% of total > food. Other weed seeds included crabgrass (Syntherisma spp.), joint grass > (Paspalum spp.), and wire grass (Eleusine indica). Seeds of a spurge (Croton > sp.) made up 9.8% of diet. Of the remaining seeds, only sorghum made > measurable contribution (2.0%). Animal matter made up of beetles (4.7%) > (mainly weevils [3.4%], including cotton boll weevil [Anthononus grandis]), > caterpillars (10.3%, including cotton worm [Alabama argillacea]), and cotton > cutworm (Prodenia ornithogalli). Grasshoppers made up 11.5% and true bugs > (Hemiptera) 1.5%. > > > -- > -- > 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] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en > * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include > bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate > * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/DM5PR0601MB3768FEF4CCED0C3282EAFB18C1339%40DM5PR0601MB3768.namprd06.prod.outlook.com. -- -- 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] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/F577D47C-A37C-48EF-87A8-649C007EC377%40icloud.com.
