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Hi Elanor & All, Feb 25, 2008
Several ideas come to mind that might narrow the field--
Your birds may have encountered distasteful sunflower seed, at your
feeder or elsewhere, and now tend to avoid all sunflower seed. If so
then they would be expected to not eat good sunflower seed.
If you 'borrowed' some from someone who is having their sunflower
seed eaten then you could test the above. And if your birds eat these
known good seed then you are not dealing with learned behavior and there
must be something unsatisfactory about your current seed.
If your seed are distasteful then it could be something in the shell
or something in the kernel. Shelling some and feeding only kernels would
test the former. If the shells are musty or are contaminated with some
volatile material then warming a shallow layer in an over at 150oF for
an hour might restore their appeal.
And although very unlikely, you might be dealing with the Flintstone
version of a GMO. There is a curious form of symbiosis involving fungi
and vascular plants. The mycelia grow throughout the plant in the
intercellular spaces. The plant outwardly, other than being unusually
vigorous, appears normal. Reproduction of the fungus is often via
contaminated seed of the vascular plant. The fungus is entirely
dependent on the vascular plant for nourishment and, at least in those
cases that have come to light, protects the plant from grazing by,
nematodes, vertebrates and insects; the plant tissue being either
distasteful or toxic.
A textbook case of this involves Kentucky-31 tall fescue (Festuca
arundinacea and the fungus Acremonium coenophialum) as described in Nat.
Hist. Sept, 1989. Cattle and horses avoid it, if given a choice, and if
not may become very ill. And apparently hundreds of grass species have
similar associations. Juncos preferred uninfected seeds and flour
beetles died when fed ground infected seeds of tall fescue.
Darnel, an annual ryegrass, is apparently well known in Europe (and
to Shakespere) because its seeds can contain an endophyte (as
demonstrated about 1889 !) that causes illness and blindness.
Yours truly, Dave Webster, Kentville
Eleanor Lindsay wrote:
> I've appreciated all the discussion on this topic including the very
> valuable side information on Indian meal moths, found in a batch of
> seeds last year and which, most thankfully I now appreciate, I
> immediately threw out!
> I've opened some sunflower seeds and verified that there are kernels
> inside. I will also buy some kernels and give them a try. I even
> bought a new feeder in case there is a problem with my existing ones
> that is not evident, despite a thorough cleaning - but still no
> consumption.
> Thanks also Lucas for the synopsis of Chapter 8; we're clearly not
> into anything that drastic - but it still a somewhat troubling mystery
> why such a basic staple as sunflower seeds, which I normally go
> through many 20kg bags of every winter are not being touched.
>
> Eleanor Lindsay
>
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