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Old 30-04-2003, 01:32 PM
Pat Kiewicz
 
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Default Sparrows eating ice plant

Timothy said:

On Tue, 29 Apr 2003 01:29:48 +0000, Miss Poots wrote:

I am having a problem with house finches and sparrows eating my ice plant.
Has anybody else had this problem and any suggestions on how I may solve
problem?


I would have to assume that these birds are using your ice plant for nest
building material?


Not neccessarily! House finches in particular will eat greens. They will nibble
at chard and lettuce and are particularly fond broccoli heads. Both sparrows
and house finches tend to pluck at the new groth on my snow-in-summer. Any
number of birds will eat newly-emerge seedlings. (People who keep caged
birds give them greens and sprouted seeds to supplement their usual seed-based
diet.)

As for keeping birds away from plants, tenting them over with plastic netting
or chicken wire until the plants are too large and mature to interest the birds
is my usual vegetable-garden technique. Flash tape, dangling CDs, and
the like are possibly useful.
--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)