Fleemo wrote:

Yesterday I planted some lettuce seedlings in the garden, only to find
them serving as a tempting salad for the birds. I found several
Rufous-crowned Sparrows devouring my lettuce plants this morning. I
had no idea the birds were herbacious! Fruits and nuts, sure. But
lettuce?

They eat many garden plants, seem to particularly love the snow peas
and snap peas and even beet leaves. They eat the peas and the plant's
leaves, just mow them down.

We've used chicken wire and nylon netting. The chicken wire was
originally to keep the groundhog and rabbits out but it's served
as a good anchor for the netting to keep the birds out. The birds
still hang all over the chicken wire and clip off every pea pod or
leaf they can reach.

We had a budgie that would just go crazy over celery leaves and
oranges. Had to watch him very closely that he didn't get at the
house plants as many of those will make them ill.

Now if chicken wire and netting were enough to keep the squirrels
out. They ripped up the beet leaves and the tomatoes last summer.

Ann