Something stripping your sunflower leaves? Blame Bay Area finches

DEAR JOAN: What are the little birds that eat sunflower leaves?

They don’t bother the blossoms or seeds, but sure peck away at the leaves. We have a plant right outside one of our windows and enjoy watching them. The plants don’t seem to mind at all.

I’m also wondering about my mint. The leaves have tiny white spots on them. The spots don’t rub off and don’t appear to be any kind of egg. Do you have any idea or should I take a sprig to our local nursery?

Jane Nebo, Livermore

DEAR JANE: The little birds are finches. We have a few varieties living in the Bay Area, including house and purple finches and American goldfinches. All of them will eat sunflower leaves, but the lesser goldfinch really loves them, and it’s likely those are the birds you’re seeing.

Finches can quickly strip a sunflower of its leaves. They also love kale, chard, hollyhocks and other large-leaf plants. I’m not going to lie, they can do some serious damage, but there’s not much you can do, so I’m glad you are content to enjoy the show.

As for your spotted mint, I suspect you have an infestation of spider mites. These tiny critters are hard to see with the naked eye, but they often spin webs as well. If you have a strong magnifying glass, look for tiny moving dots on the underside of the leaves.

The white dots are actually places where the mite has bitten into the leaf to suck out the juices.

It could also be damage from thrips, but in addition to the white spots, you’d also see tiny black round things, which are frass or thrip poop.

If it’s mites, don’t use insecticides. That can actually make the problem worse. Make sure the mint is getting enough water — mites often attack plants that are stressed — and use insecticidal soap or a strong spray of water to wash them off.

Thrips are more difficult to control and usually require an insecticide.

DEAR JOAN: Over the last few weeks I’ve had band-tailed pigeons showing up at my bird feeder. They are very large birds and have a large appetite to go along with their size.

It wasn’t too bad when only two of them were feeding, but today, six showed up.

Other than removing the feeder, is there anything I can do to discourage them from visiting my yard? I’m worried I will end up with a large flock of these birds hogging the feeder and no other birds can get in to eat.

Katherine, Pleasant Hill

DEAR KATHERINE: Band-tailed pigeons don’t typically visit backyard feeders for long. There are exceptions, of course.

The band-tails are partial to wooded areas, and their favorite food is acorns. While they can be territorial about their nests, they are more than willing to rub wings when it comes to sharing food, as they find safety in numbers.

Anything you do to scare them off will also scare off the birds you like, so until the acorns start dropping, you might try drawing the pigeons away from the feeder with a feeding station of their own. They like black oil sunflower seeds, cracked corn and peanut hearts.

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Author: Joan Morris

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