I've never seen sparrows do that around here (I have a flock of about 50 which communally nest in the hedges) but they can eat a wide variety of food so it's probably a local learned behaviour. The local bullfinches certainly do it and they ate most flower/fruit buds from my gage last year so I ended up with one fruit. 😡 New buds won't form until the tree comes out of dormancy; Any uneaten buds will form leaves in spring but new buds will usually form and produce more leaves a few weeks later. If you are lucky, they may only be eating flower buds so you may not even notice as japanese acer flowers are so small they generally go unnoticed.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
Thanks @BobTheGardener .They eat all my cherry plum buds in the spring so I never see a blossom. I thought they were after the nearby rose hips . They took some. Watched through binoculars. They were definitely mainly eating the acer buds. It's good to know I won't be left with sticks next year . I suppose it'll be later coming into leaf though.
Posts
I thought they were after the nearby rose hips . They took some. Watched through binoculars. They were definitely mainly eating the acer buds.
It's good to know I won't be left with sticks next year . I suppose it'll be later coming into leaf though.