Burr Blitz @ the Spit this Weekend

[Kris Ito]

Toronto bird lovers are being asked to help remove invasive Burdock plants from Tommy Thompson Park this coming weekend (October 24 -25). Commonly referred to as “burrs”, this invasive weed is a well documented killer of small songbirds, particularly during fall migration. Sadly there have already been several fatalities in the park in recent weeks. This initiative has the support of the TRCA, who will provide garbage bags at the visitor centre all weekend and who are also taking responsibility for safe disposal. You only need to remove the burrs, not the entire plant. If we all fill just one bag, we can really make a difference for our smallest feathered friends. Please bring your own clippers and work gloves.

[nana]

The burrs are everywhere and now is the time to get rid of the seed heads before they spread even further afield. Chop off the burs on their small stems but leave the big stalks to rot (they take up way too much room in the bags !). Be careful as small bits fly around.
It is awful seeing dead warblers and kinglets trapped in burs. Hopefully many people will turn out to The Spit this weekend and help with this initiative.

Here is a link to an article written about burdock and small birds a few years ago by Jean Iron.
http://earthcaretaker.com/alienplants/b ... p2002.html

[mr.sharp-photo]

i'm busy saturday but i'll try to come on sunday.
how's the ground? do we need boots?

[Rotarran]

Thank you to anyone who's going out there to help the Kinglets out.

[nana]

The Blitz was a great success thanks to over 30 volunteers who came with their clippers and chopped off more than 50 green bags of the nasty burdock seed heads that trap and kill warblers and kinglets on windy days. Thanks to TRCA for all their efforts and to everyone who lent a hand by attending, and spreading the word.

Burdock is pretty much everywhere, so take your clippers and a bag when you wander and clip off the burrs. Every bagful helps in the effort to rid our parks and wild spaces of this invasive species.

Hopefully other parks will hold a Burr Blitz too.

[Pat Hodgson]

It was very nice out there on Sunday, but rather tiring to cut all those burrs, and I don't think we got them all as there were still lots on the way to Pipit Point when we left Sunday afternoon.
I did get to see 8 snow buntings as a reward, including 2 curious young ones that landed only about 3m away from me.
I wonder if it would be wise to think about this problem earlier in future years.  Maybe at an earlier time simply cutting off the stalk at its base would stop the burrs from fully developing, and it would be easier than having to gather and remove all those bags.

[nana]

I was contacted with the following good information about dealing with burdock -

"the time to eliminate burdock is when the flowers start to fade, before any seeds have ripened, and before most of the bird migration - just clip the stem below all flowers.  Doing it earlier risks new sprouts making new flowers."

Great to have a dialogue about this problem - much to learn and many new things to put into practice next year.