Tomatoes on bird diet?

[Piglottie]

This is my first year growing (please be gentle  ;D) and although I knew birds ate strawberries, I was shocked, yes shocked, that within the space of 2 hours my ruby red strawberries went from specimens of perfection to pathetic stalks and half bitten fruits - courtesy of the local blackbird population (whose antics I usually love to watch!).  Am now in process of covering up said strawberries, but....

what about my outdoor tomatoes?  It came to my mind that they are also red (if they ever ripen  ::) ) and may look like the bird equivalent of a three course meal - so are they safe or do they need covering?

[Piglottie]

[beejay]

You're safe, at least in my experience. In fact I can't think of anything that has eaten our tomatoes except us.

[Piglottie]

Phew!  Thanks Beejay - you just never know, its a jungle out there and still learning the rules  :)

[weedin project]

....then again, be afraid, be very afraid.....

I made a mistake and left my greenhouse door open the other night, and in (I presume) early morning some feathered friend had been in and had a go at a tomato.  Just the one, mind, so no big deal.  It was a nicely ripe one, & had been nibbled from the bottom up to about ½-way.  You could see the beak-marks on it, so it wasn't a rat or similar.

That said, I leave the greenhouse open all day and haven't had any more problems like that, so it may have been a young bird experimenting :D

[return of the mac]

i dont mind the pests meself as long as they just choose one or two fruits to eat rather than taking one bite out of each (which theyve never done)