Absolutely they do! I've seen it happen in my garden. It was the Golden Crowned Sparrow that was the culprit. They particularly like the new growth. The first sign on the full grown plants I saw last year was tears in the leafs, but it didn't look like it was from pests. Then I witnessed the birds in action. The plants were well enough established that it had little impact overall. But then in March, when I was starting from seed this years Nasturtium, I found the birds eating off the tender new sprouts, and I knew they would never have a chance to survive, let alone thrive. Solution: I put netting over the sprouts to prevent the birds from getting them, and it worked. After plants had established themselves I removed the netting and I now have thriving plants. It seems that the Golden Crowned sparrows have moved on and everyone is happy. This post was edited by Dawnzig on Sun, Jun 1, 14 at 14:26

I love my birds, and sometimes do some crazy stuff to accomadate them! I have a robin that nests on top of my garage door opener every year for the last 3 years..if i am doing anything in the garage she sits on the ledge and just bickers at me until i leave, so i do what i am doing, then leave every so often so she can get in there and feed her babies...i enjoy her..she follows the mower and grabs whatever she can after the grass is clipped..i get a kick out of her. i have a pileated woodpecker that comes every night at dusk and grabs huge chunks of a stump and just flings them over his shoulder..he is very skittish, and if he sees me he is gone for the day. i should have gotten rid of that stump years ago, but he seems to like it, so it stays... i have hummers all over..i just love them. 2 years ago, i had a pair of mourning doves make a nest right in the middle of my gravel driveway...so i moved it off to the side, and they went back to it and raised their chicks...i put traffic cones around it so nobody would accidentally run over it...it was the highlight of my day to see them..they drag their wing and act wounded to lure you away from their nest..every morning and every night, i watched them play wounded..they are still here, but further from the driveway now, so i don't get the show that i used to! i also get a huge kick out of the humminbird moths..they are all over my bee balm every summer..once you get used to spotting them, they are easy to find, and they aren't afraid at all, you can get them to sit on your hand..they look like mini hummingbirds.. i never just look at my roses..i always look at what supports them, and what they support...i am glad that i don't use chemicals..Donna

This bird was in my backyard all day today under my feeders. I thought they were supposed to be north breeding and nesting right now?

I guess it could be possible. However, Golden-crowned Sparrows (and White-crowneds) molt in their adult plumage following their first winter...so you shouldn't see any birds now in juvenile plumage. Also, immature Golden-crowned Sparrows still have a yellowish crown, though not nearly as bright as an adult. There have been a few birds photographed in the NW that have been suspected hybrids between Golden and White-crowned Sparrows...this could explain what you are seeing as well. Perhaps they are hybrids? BN