I'm not an ornithologist, but I thought birds were seed-etarians. Or worm-etarians.

I am certain I never thought of birds eating cabbage.

But that's what's going on at Baltimore's City Hall gardens.

Planted with kale, cabbage and some fall greens, the gardens, which were so beautiful and bountiful this summer, are being decimated by -- birds.

"I didn't believe it until I saw it," said Angela Treadwell-Palmer, who designed the first-ever vegetable gardens around the War Memorial Plaza.

Certainly, she thought, it was rabbits that ate the kale and cabbage down to the ground as soon as the seedlings emerged.

Nope. It was birds. Wrens and starlings, she thinks. She saw them swarm the gardens and then flock to the treetops around City Hall the moment a car passed and startled them.

This the first setback for the City Hall gardens, which produced more than 1,500 pounds of produce for Our Daily Bread, Baltimore's soup kitchen.

The gardens were largely undisturbed by critters, vandals, disease or insects this summer - although just about all the zucchini disappeared and many of the tomatoes were picked.

Apparently, the birds don't like everything.

"They haven't touched the "Osaka Red" mustard greens," Treadwell-Palmer said

Those are plenty hot for humans. They are waaayyy too hot for birds.

On the left, "Golden Acre" cabbage, which has been feasted upon by birds. On the right, "Osaka Red" mustard greens - not so much.

Photo credit: Susan Reimer