[NatureNS] Questions

Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2008 18:51:07 -0400
From: Stephen Shaw <srshaw@dal.ca>
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
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Come to think of it, there was a failure of endorsement-logic in my 
recent post.
My bag of black oil sunflower seed wasn't a Walmart's-own bag or even
re-labelled, it was an Essex Topcrop bag that Walmart was re-selling. 
Presumably it is Essex Topcrop that has contributed to the 3 bird 
organizations
and thus received their endorsement, nothing to do with the Walmart
organization, apart from them recognizing an externally-endorsed source of
seed.  So there would be nothing special about using Walmart as a 
source if you
could find the same brand elsewhere, though I haven't come across it 
elsewhere,
locally.
Steve

Quoting Eleanor Lindsay <az678@chebucto.ns.ca>:
> Stephen Shaw wrote:
>> Usually I buy my hulled seed supplies at the Wild Bird shop in 
>> Clayton Park, but
>> the last lot of un-hulled Black Oil Sunflower in a manageable-sized bag
>> actually came from Walmart in Halifax. Checking this out...
>> ... on this 15 kg plastic bag is printed "made in Canada, Essex 
>> Topcrop Sales
>> Ltd, Box 10, Essex, Ont., 1-800-265-4899, www.topcrop.ca".  More to 
>> the point,
>> the bag also bears logos (presumably seals of approval?) from "member" Wild
>> Bird Feeding Institute, "supporting" National Bird-Feeding Society, and
>> thirdly, Project Feeder Watch (Bird Studies Canada), www.bsc-eoc.org.  The
>> quotations "member" and "supporting" presumably mean that Walmart 
>> has supported
>> these organizations financially, and that, accordingly, it has been 
>> permitted
>> to use their logos.
>>
>> I mention all this because if anyone including me had concerns about this
>> particular supply of BOS or others, presumably we could follow this up by
>> contacting the three bird organizations above to see if they had checked the
>> source of the BOS and were even aware of the Roundup story, or we 
>> could check
>> with Essex Topcrop directly.  The other correspondents concerned about this
>> should check the inscriptions (if any) on their BOS bags to see if 
>> anyone has
>> endorsed the source of their seeds.  Walmart usually gets bad press 
>> and I'm not
>> endorsing them here, but in this case at least it looks like three bird
>> organizations have endorsed their BOS supplier.  I'm sure that's 
>> what Walmart
>> intends to convey to the public by printing their logos, and hope that's
>> actually what it does mean.
>> Steve (Halifax)
>> ****************************************
>>
>> Quoting James Hirtle <jrhbirder@hotmail.com>:
>>> Hi all:
>>> I recieved this recently and was wondering if anyone has any 
>>> knowledge on this issue.  If indeed there is any truth to the 
>>> following, I myself would find it somewhat disturbing.  I would 
>>> like to send an answer to the individual, but I have no first hand 
>>> knowledge in regards to the topic.
>>>
>>> James R. Hirtle
>>> Dublin Shore
>>>
>>> I am writing about sunflower seeds which I feed birds at my 
>>> property on Hidden Lake in the Labelle/Chelsea area. In October my 
>>> wife and I took a trip across Canada by train. On the outskirts of 
>>> Winnipeg we saw large fields packed with sunflower plants that were 
>>> brown and withered looking. I felt this to be somewhat odd 
>>> considering that the weather was still quite summer like and that I 
>>> had seen sunflower plants in Maniban gardens that still seemed 
>>> robustly upright and appealing to the sun. Whe I arrived at my 
>>> older son's place in Kelowna BC I happened to ask him whether he 
>>> knew about the sunflower crops around Winnipeg. He had spent some 
>>> time in Winnipeg and his girlfriend comes from a town out side of 
>>> that city. My son said that he was told that the sunflower plants 
>>> are sprayed with Round Up to facilitate the harvesting of the 
>>> plants and the gathering of their seeds. In January of this year I 
>>> purchased an 18 kg bag of sunflower seeds at Costco in Halifax. On 
>>> the bag was printed the name of the company, Keystone Grain Limited 
>>> (they have a website) that distribute the seed and I noticed it was 
>>> in Winnipeg. I looked on the bag for more infornmation and was 
>>> surprised to see no mention that the seed wasn't for human 
>>> consumption. So I wrote them an e-mail to find out if the seed was 
>>> fit for humans. I have had no reply. I was wondering whether you, 
>>> because of your area of expertise, would have any knowledge if in 
>>> fact this is a method used to harvest the seed and whether use of 
>>> such seed - possibly corrupted or contaminated with a herbicide - 
>>> would be detrimental to birds. I read and hear of the decimation 
>>> and reduction in the counts of some types of birds. Could this be a 
>>> factor to consider or at least make notice of?
>>>
>>
>>
>>
> On further checking this morning, I have learned that both my 
> Tantallon supplier and Best Friends Pet Supplies get their seeds via 
> Armstrong in Ontario. Best Friends advised me that as far as they 
> understand all the seeds come from 'out west'. At this point 
> Stephen's Walmart brand sounds worth checking into.
>
> Eleanor Lindsay
>

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