Thanksgiving, Wine, and Bluebirds

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and we all likely feasted on turkey or ham, stuffing, potatoes, pumpkin pie...and maybe a glass or four of wine. Since wine is so often enjoyed, and wine-making can be very profitable, many researchers out there are studying what makes wine better. Still, before grapes are even collected, they are obviously grown in vineyards. A recent study looked into how vineyards may benefit from other animals in the environment: bluebirds.

Unfortunately, trees that house bluebirds are frequently cut down to make room for expanding vineyards. This study examined whether putting up birdhouses (for the bluebirds to live in) is beneficial to vineyard owners. To do this, they collected fecal samples from many bluebirds in Napa Valley, and analyzed the poop for DNA fragments (a process they called "molecular scatology"). The researchers used readily available databases to match the DNA fragments they found in the bluebird poop to the DNA of known species. In other words, they figured out what the birds had been eating.

When they compiled their findings, the researchers saw that bluebirds generally eat a lot of herbivorous insects (mosquitoes and other species), and only about 3% of their diets are from predatory or useful insects. From the standpoint of winemakers, this is a really good thing! It means that the bluebirds are consuming the insects that could potentially eat or damage their crops. Also, we didn't know that bluebirds eat mosquitoes (insects that are not just annoying, but also can spread harmful viruses). These findings might encourage winemakers to install more birdhouses, which would benefit the birds, the winemakers, and all of us happy consumers of wine.

Check out this link to learn more:
http://www.popsci.com/bluebird-poop-proves-their-value-to-california-vineyards