[Tweeters] crows and lawns

[Constance Sidles via Tweeters]

Hey tweets, in answer to David's question, the lawn chews are most probably being caused by an invasive beetle, the European chafer beetle. The larvae feed on grass roots underground, loosening divots of grass clumps. The crows then move in and turn over the loose divots to eat the beetle larvae. So the crows are helping, not hurting! What surprises me is the sheer immensity of the beetles' activity. At Montlake Fill, large areas of the IMA fields are torn up. There must be thousands of beetle grubs at work. We need more hungry crows, and what about the gulls? They should get busy too. - Connie, Seattle


> On Dec 19, 2024, at 1:26 PM, David B. Williams via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:

> 

> Greetings all. I apologize if this was previous asked and I missed the answer.

> 

> I assume that people have noticed all of the lawns and green grassy areas that look roughed up, as if someone was digging in the grass looking for something. I am pretty sure it’s crows but I don’t remember this behavior being so widespread and common. 

> 

> Any thoughts?

> 

> Thanks kindly,

> David Williams

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> _______________________________________________

> Tweeters mailing list

> Tweeters at u.washington.edu

> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20241220/5e72eae6/attachment.html>