Tweetsters -- The following seemed of interest. My question is: will the
birds eat when there is no human around to blow the whistle? (see following)

Fowl Attack Force
An elite force of more than 700,000 ducks and chickens, trained to search and
eat insects at the sound of a whistle, has been deployed in the
locust-plagued fields of China?s Xinjiang Province.

The birds have been trained for their deadly mission by learning to associate
feeding with the whistle command. An official with the Xinjiang Locust and
Rat Control Office said, ?We release them on the grassland, blow whistles and
they eat the locusts.? Officials estimated that the new attack force has
gobbled up more than 100 million locusts in the latest effort to control the
swarms of insects. The density of locusts in some badly hit regions has
reached as many as 5,000 insects per square yard.
http://www.enn.com/features/2000/07/07152000/diaryplanet_14792.asp?site=WEBREL
EAF#fire
Jo Waldron
Everett, WA
joaw9 at aol.com
<A HREF="http://www.webreleaf.com/">Plant a tree </A>