Folks,
I have a Foxglove (digitalis) growing in a big pot on my condo deck (4
stories up.) I noticed leaves missing, then happened to see a Starling
snipping off and carrying away leaves (green, not dead leaves) to what
appears to be a nesting hole. I'm wondering if the birds are using these
as some kind of pest control in their nests? Many plants, e.g., Foxglove,
contain powerful chemical compounds that could be useful as pest control or as
some more subtle, as yet unknown, therapeutic agent for nestlings?
Avian-ethnobotany, anyone?
Cheers, me2
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Maureen Ellis, PhD, Research Scientist
Woods Lab, Toxicology Group at Roos 1, Box 354695
Lab/Office phone: 206-685-1938 Email: me2 at u.washington.edu
DEOHS, SPHCM, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
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Our lives are not measured in the breaths that we take, but in the moments
that take our breath away." -unknown

"*Intelligence* is what each of us has to work with;
*smart* is what we do with it!" -unknown