Guavas are for the birds

Brown Jay chomping down on La Gringa's guava

At least my guavas are for the birds, the fruit fly larvae, and the chickens. I've only had two fruits in the past year. :-/

I walked into the kitchen yesterday and something bright pink outside the window caught my eye. I looked up and my first thought was, "Why am I seeing the inside of the guava instead of the outside?" Then I saw the bird. This is one of many brown jays (thanks to Daniel of Hondubirding for identifying it for me), toucans, squirrels, and other birds that avail themselves of our guavas.

I'm happy to feed the wildlife. I just wish they would finish what they start. Those half-eaten guavas laying on the ground really stink!

I'll leave this tree for the animals. I don't think I can win the fruit fly battle. My neighbor, who was the one who gave me the tree, used to bag his developing fruit to keep out the fruit flies. I'm not sure if he still does that now that his tree must be huge.

For those who don't know, we don't use chemicals in our garden. Under my philosophy, generally I would just get rid of this tree as being unsuitable for an organic garden in this area, but since it is such a boon to the wildlife, I guess we'll keep it.

Here is a video of the greedy brown jay filling himself with guava.




Enjoy! That guava looks mighty tasty.