<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">Greg —<div><br></div><div>Earthworms are a favorite food of the American Woodcock (an Eastern bird, sadly not found in Washington). From timberdoodle.org:</div><div><br></div><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 11.84px;">When feeding, a woodcock probes with its bill into soft soil. Sensitive nerve endings in the lower third of the bill help the bird locate <u><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">earthworms</strong>, its favorite prey</u>. The woodcock is able to open the foremost third of its upper bill, or mandible, while the bill is sunk in the ground, helping it to seize worms and pull them from their burrows. The woodcock’s long tongue and the underside of the mandible are rough-surfaced for securing slippery prey.</p></div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 11.84px;"><u>Earthworms</u>, high in fat and protein, <u>typically make up about three-quarters of a woodcock's <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">diet.</strong></u></p></div></blockquote><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 11.84px;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Doug Santoni / Seattle, WA / dougsantoni at gmail dot come</span></p><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>On Jul 21, 2023, at 11:04 PM, Greg <gjpluth@gmail.com> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div><meta charset="UTF-8"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; float: none; display: inline !important;">Really appreciate all the in-depth knowledge on earthworms. Now I wonder what other species of birds in North America seek out earth worms. Also, of all the species of earth worms, I wonder which are most common to “lawns.”</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Sent from my iPhone</div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Jul 21, 2023, at 1:30 PM, Steven Wood <woodsteven@seattleu.edu> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><div dir="ltr"><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1;"><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">While there are plenty of invasive earthworms in North America, primarily in the northeast and areas that have been relatively recently lost their glaciers, about 2/3rds of the earthworms in North America are natives and could have fed American Robins before transatlantic shipping became common:</div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">“<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); background: white;">Earthworms are shifting their ranges northwards into forests between </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/45th_parallel_north" title="45th parallel north" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 102, 204); background: white; text-decoration: none;">45°</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); background: white;"> and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/69th_parallel_north" title="69th parallel north" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 102, 204); background: white; text-decoration: none;">69° latitude</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); background: white;"> in North America that have lacked native earthworms since the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_glacial_period" title="Last glacial period" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 102, 204); background: white; text-decoration: none;">last ice age</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); background: white;">.</span><sup id="cite_ref-Frelich_4-0"><span style="font-size: 8.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); background: white;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasive_earthworms_of_North_America#cite_note-Frelich-4" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204); text-decoration: none;">[4]</span></a></span></sup><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); background: white;"> The worms in question are primary engineers of their environment. They are considered </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_species" title="Keystone species" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 102, 204); background: white; text-decoration: none;">keystone species</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); background: white;"> because, as </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detritivore" title="Detritivore" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 102, 204); background: white; text-decoration: none;">detritivores</span></a><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); background: white;">, they alter many different variables of their ecosystem.</span><sup id="cite_ref-Frelich_4-1"><span style="font-size: 8.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); background: white;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasive_earthworms_of_North_America#cite_note-Frelich-4" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204); text-decoration: none;">[4]</span></a></span></sup><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); background: white;"> Of the 182 taxa of earthworms found in the United States and Canada, 60 (33%) are introduced species.</span><sup id="cite_ref-Blakemore_5-0"><span style="font-size: 8.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); background: white;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasive_earthworms_of_North_America#cite_note-Blakemore-5" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204); text-decoration: none;">[5]</span></a></span></sup><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); background: white;"> “</span><o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">From:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasive_earthworms_of_North_America" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">Invasive earthworms of North America - Wikipedia</a><o:p></o:p></div></div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>Tweeters mailing list</span><br><span>Tweeters@u.washington.edu</span><br><span>http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters</span><br></div></blockquote><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; float: none; display: inline !important;">_______________________________________________</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); 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