Scott, I have the same problem with Mockingbirds and with Thrashers. They will peck at all my fruit - citrus, stone fruit, figs. I have had success with mylar strips. My yard looks ridiculous, but at least I'm keeping fruit from the birds. Squirrels, however, are a different issue. I have resorted to poison bait stations as no amount of shooting with a pellet gun or humane trapping (and we have to then dispatch with the squirrels, as it is illegal to trap and release them here in San Diego county), has not made a dent in our ridiculous ground and tree squirrel population. It is a battle every year for stone fruit. We cannot have cats outside here because of our high coyote population. The cat would be gone in a day. Even though we have a VERY high number of predators here - hawks, kites, falcons, eagles, Great Horned owls, Barn owls, foxes, weasels, bobcats, coyotes, roadrunners, snakes galore (at least 4 or 5 different kinds), we still have a huge squirrel and rat problem. I even have a Barn own house on my property (which I think was used this year, haven't taken it down to check, but have a resident Barn owl we see often in the evening). Actually, one of my three Aussies has become the official "squirrelinator", having gotten 3 of them over the last 3 months. He is really smart and REALLY quick. Patty S.

Well I didn't see anymore of those pesky boogers, but I decided to spray it with some organic spray from Home Depot made for Fruit and Vegetable plants. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. I also noticed that black ants (Sugar ants?) are crawling all over my mint, so I sprayed it too :P Gosh, did they disappear in a hurry like :P I've just really gotten back into gardening, so I guess I'm learning all about these pesky little insects. A friend of mine told me to sprinkle red pepper around the plants and that it would keep the ants away. :) I want to get a stevia plant, so I guess I'd better do that :P On the bright side, will tending my growing garden, I had the opportunity to watch a Great Horned Owl mosey about my backyard with a little bird pestering him nearby :P And a little hare, who didn't see me, made his way onto my deck. Only when I moved and made a noise did he hop away. :)

As I said in the original message, they are on the ground. No, they are not split. The lemon insides are there perfectly, just as if you or I peeled it, only the rind is eaten.

Oh, yea he's hanging out by onions here. The strawberries are off camera to the right, and the tomatoes are in small planters on either side of the planter he's on now. Those are really the only fruit we have that we've had trouble with; we have watermelon and cantaloupe but they birds ever bother them. could be sparrows, we have a lot of those in the neighborhood. this species is the only one that seems to actually stick around in the garden, thought. i probably should have mentioned that I live in south eastern PA.