Do birds steal and eat cherry tomatoes growing on the vine?

[Crystal Clarity]

Please forgive my naivete. This is my first gardening attempt. So far all is going fairly well (other then the bell peppers-not sure what is going on with them) :shrug:

But anyway, 4 or 5 days ago, I saw a bird (not sure what kind but definitely not a crow) flying off with something small, green and round in it's beak. I took note only because it just seemed odd; it didn't occur to me at the time that it might have something to do with my plants.

But yesterday while watering them, I noticed that the cherry tomatoes planted in the ground had quite alot of maturing tomatoes, while the one in the hanging 5 gallon bucket had very few. I probably ought to add that the hanging tomato plant seems to be much healthier then the 4 tomato plants in the ground. So if there is a smaller yield on any of them, it seems to me that it would be more likely to be the ground plants simply because they aren't doing as well.

So, is it possible that the birds are eating tomatoes from the hanging plant and ignoring the ground ones? BTW It never occurred to me before that they might eat maturing cherry tomatoes at all... Again please forgive my woeful lack of knowledge on this. :blush: I know birds eat some crops- thus the Scarecrow... but cherry tomatoes?

[XemaSab]

1. I have never known anything to eat tomatoes

but that's a good question.

[Denninmi]

2. I've had voles and chipmunks take them.

And fox and gray squirrels either carry them off or take bites out of the larger ones. Never birds to my knowledge, but there's always a first time for everything.

[Crystal Clarity]

3. So the mystery deepens

Hmmmm.... :freak:

I'm going to start paying closer attention to possible thievery from not only birds now but fox and grey squirrels too. lol! Thanks for sharing! :hi:

[Blue Gardener]

4. Maybe crows or blackbirds

I know they like bright shiny things, maybe they like your pretty red tomatoes.

[LaurenG]

5. We have caught squirrels eating our tomatoes in the past

maybe they are the culprits.

[Po_d Mainiac]

6. Cedar waxwings will damage tomatoes..n/t

[Crystal Clarity]

7. That's him!... or her!

I 'wikieed' Cedar Waxwings. I'm about 95% sure it's the type of bird I saw... No serious harm done though. I still have more then enough cherry tomatoes. Thanks to my fellow Maine-iac for the lead! :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Waxwing

[Po_d Mainiac]

8. They prefer fruit, but I have caught them "sampling" tomatoes. n/t

[MajorChode]

9. Around here, birds will often peck at them

I've never grown cherry tomatoes, but I've had birds peck at larger ones. This only happens when they start to ripen. I've had them do this with my peaches also. It must be something about the red color they like.