Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 12:09:02 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Gerald & Laura Tarbell Subject: Re: Salt Lick for Sparrows? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit OK. Mr. Huy, it's your turn. Surely you can top these two! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sherry Peruzzi" To: Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2002 11:38 AM Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Salt Lick for Sparrows? > Rick Sussman wrote: > > > What you witnessed is "mortar feeding", whereby the birds, usually members of > > the weaver finch family, will cling to vertical masonry walls while shuffling > > their feet along in a sort of stilted locomotion trying to free any clinging > > insects and/or larva from the surface for the purpose of feeding. > > This is why there are so many house sparrows, and why masonry houses last so long. > The insects in the masonry eat the tiny clay particles (yes, there is nutrition in > them -- that's why nutritionally-deprived people occasionally feel a compulsion to > eat clay). As they eat the particles, they leave small tunnels through the bricks > or concrete block of the structure, weakening it exactly the same way that > termites weaken wood. But unlike wood, masonry is too dense to be penetrated by > chemicals. Thus, if not for the weaver finches, there wouldn't be a masonry house > more than 15 years old left standing anywhere in the country. This is the one and > only beneficial behavior of these disagreeable birds. > > Sherry Peruzzi > Howard County > > ======================================================================= > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================