I have a serendipitous sunflower (most likely "planted" by birds), but something is eating its large leaves one by one. Do the patterns on the eaten leaf implicate a particular critter? If not, how do I track this down (haven't caught any critter in the act). Any help appreciated.
Ragged damage such as this often is the result of feeding by slugs. You might try examining the plant during the night or in predawn hours.
Thanks, suunto, I will take a look. I don't think I have slugs, but I have seen snails (not on the sunflower, but I may not be looking at the right time).
Well, it seems the leaves are being eaten by birds. I've seen several small birds with black and white tail feathers and yellow breasts land on the sunflower leaves and peck at them (see picture). At first I thought they were eating bugs off the leaves, but then I saw that they were taking chunks out of the leaf each time they pecked. The sunflower seems to be growing fast enough to stay ahead of the birds (so far).
is it nesting material?
The birds adore sunflower leaves at my place as well. They went absolutely nuts for them last year, but the sunflowers grew and bloomed just fine in spite of the damage. I am not good with my bird IDs, but I think the culprit is the Lesser Goldfinch http://enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?source=&parkid=&searchText=&allSpecies=y&shapeID=0&lshapeID=0&curAbbr=&lastView=default&lastGroup=1&lastRegion=1045&lastFilter=4&lastShapeName=&trackType=&curRegionID=1045&size=&habitat=&fruit=&color=&sortBy=family&curFamilyID=214®ionSelect=95118®ionZIP=95118&curGroupID=1&lgfromWhere=&curPageNum=3
Malus, they just chow down on the leaves right then and there. I thought they were eating bugs at first as well, so I watched what they were doing on several occasions, and they were definitely eating the leaves. It's actually pretty fun to watch.
This message was edited May 9, 2009 9:34 PM
This is a new one on me, but apparently, this habit has been noted by others in CA (see http://tinyurl.com/on3kpy). We have loads of goldfinches here, but I have never seen them go after leaves of any kind. Thanks for sharing your observation!
i know!! this appear to be like birds eating tree buds and flowers - I have seen this happen often enough but except for one south american bird I had never had heard of any birds eating mature leaves
Thanks everyone for your comments and insight. The bird I'm seeing does indeed match the pictures of the Lesser Goldfinch. Marking this thread as solved.
I also thought it was some sort of bug that was eating the sunflower leaves but discovered the finches were the culprits.
Having gone through the same experience in 2008, I, too, was able to photograph the same culprit, and wish to confirm that it is the Lesser Goldfinch. My poor photograph and a far better professional one.
...and here is Carduelis, the Lesser Goldfinch.
