Tuesday 15 February 2022

Re: [cobirds] Pyrrhuloxia diet


Yesterday (2/14) I gifted the homeowner with about 10 lbs of jumbo white-striped sunflower seed that I was still hoarding from the grosbeaks that visited my yard last May and are expected to show up again this year. Will be curious to see if it takes a keener interest in those opposed to the black-oil seeds being offered presently. 
On Monday, February 14, 2022 at 8:45:17 PM UTC-7 Carol wrote:
It's still a couple of weeks early for the Quince to be really budding up. When I see the bushtits getting interested in it in a couple of weeks or so, I'll check carefully for aphids and scaly stuff. However, last year I was able to see actual petals in their beaks on a few occasions, so I did decide they were after flower buds.


Carol Blackard
Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 14, 2022, at 8:29 PM, Jennifer Powell <jn...@well.com> wrote:



We have some shrubby wild plums that grow around our yard and every spring I see birds, usually house finches, methodically going up and down the stems eating early flower buds one after another.

Jennifer Powell

Jeffco, near Standley Lake


On 2/14/2022 9:27 AM, 'Carol Blackard' via Colorado Birds wrote:
Lateral but still birdy shift here: I've been watching bushtits picking off and downing buds from our Flowering Quince bushes in March for years, sometimes chickadees. At first I thought they might be going for insect larvae, but I now think it's the flower buds.

Carol Blackard
Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 14, 2022, at 9:16 AM, DAVID A LEATHERMAN <daleat...@msn.com> wrote:


At least four people have sent me pics or descriptions of house finches at or near the pyrrhuloxia yard eating tree parts and have said the pyrrhuloxia was associating with the finches for a lengthy period of time, maybe doing the same thing.  The "tree parts" are buds.  Trees have two primary types of buds: flower buds and leaf buds.  At this time of year the flower buds, which are first to open for most types of trees, swell.  As such they are nutritional sinks and a valuable source of bird food, especially for finches, cardinals and the like.  The tree shown in the pics I've received looks like Siberian elm, a tree that has been flowering earlier and earlier in my experience.  In recent years I have seen a few elm flowers in late February, with March being the peak.  It would be cool if somebody could document the pyrrhuloxia eating Siberian elm flower buds.  Birds actively consuming large numbers of buds, which is a messy operation, often show considerable "debris" on their beaks.  Maybe one of you has a photo of the pyrrhuloxia with a messy beak and it could be determined if the mess is from sunflower seed or tree buds.  A photo of the pyrrhuloxia actually putting its beak down to a twig with swollen dark brown buds would be better proof.

We all know animals are opportunists.  Studying fox squirrels over the years, I have long thought one could pretty accurately predict the order in which our urban trees flower and/or leaf out by noting the tree species when one sees squirrels chowing down on buds and dropping the worked over twigs.  The squirrels favoring one kind of tree this week will most likely be in a different type of tree next week.  Keep track of the sequence and I think it would be a good match to the flowering/leafing sequence for that same set of trees weeks hence.  Somehow, probably related to smell in the case of squirrels, they know where to get the biggest bang for the bite.  The pattern doesn't seem quite as clearcut for birds.  My thought would be that birds are going by visual clues (i.e., watching for swelling which indicates a recent or on-going investment in the growing points by the plant), and that visual assessment might not be as precise as the aromatic acuity possessed by squirrels.

Memberships in the CSFTEA (Colorado Society For The Easily Amused) are free.  Join today.

Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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