Kennard Elementary School in Centreville boasts an excellent hedgerow of 
Osage Orange trees and hundreds of its fruit (Hedgeapples or monkey brains 
or monkey ____ - if you are a little older, etc) litter the ground and an 
access road behind the school.  The monkey brains are an obvious attraction 
to young birders, at times a much better attraction than birds.  This 
afternoon, I, along with 8 youth birders, noticed a small flock (20 to 30 
birds) of House Finches on the road and in the grass among the hedgeapples. 
The finches appeared to be eating something, even perching on the split open 
fruit.  When I walked over, I noticed that a mower had been thru the area 
and had broken open many fruit, plus there were many that had been smashed 
much earlier and were brown and yucky (to quote Cassie).  My conclusion is 
that the House Finches were eating the seeds inside the Hedgeapples.  I had 
read that squirrels loved the seeds but have never observed squirrels eating 
them.  I guess House Finches also eat them.  Yummm.

Jim Wilson
Queenstown

ps:  What a Gyrfalcon eats ... At the Bird Show in Cape May this past 
weekend, a Gyrfalcon was being flown by Jonathan Wood when it decided to fly 
away.  Mr. Wood had a radio tracker on it and went searching.  The bird, 
apparently hungry, snatched a pigeon it came across (probably the first ... 
and certainly the last ... Gyrfalcon the pigeon ever saw) and proceeded to 
land outside a shoe store in Cape May and walk in, decapitate the pigeon, 
and startle a few people.  Police and animal control were called, but Mr. 
Wood got there and returned the bird to the convention center in Cape May. 
I did not hear the end of the story, but apparently some fuss was being made 
by the store owner.