Aussie Finch Forum

Been looking through the posts, can't get onto next page due to page load error? So i just gonna ask - and i apologise if it has been asked before - Can anyone tell me, can i feed the common milkthistle from my garden to my gouldians or are they poisonous ?

Milkthistles are one of the most popular greens to give to birds. The birds love the leaves and the flower buds.

MadOzzie

Only poisonous if someone's sprayed it with pesticide as it is a weed.Carduelis birds love it,mainly the flowering heads once it dies or turns fluffy white.

Sweet! Thanks peeps. Just wanted to make sure - i spent a small fortune buying my four pairs Gouldians, didnt want to kill them from lack of knowledge or ignorance!!

I think there's been some misunderstanding here, as to what we call "Milk Thistle" and what we call "Sow Thistle". There are several varieties of Milk Thistle and all have large sharp thorns. Only the seed is given to birds, but the leafs and seed can be used for human consumption. On the other hand Sow Thistle does not have thorns therefore heads seed and leaves can be given to birds or can be eaten by human. If you breed Siskins or Goldfinches they would really thrive on Milk and Sow Thistle. I always have about four or five plants growing on my property. When you break a stem of a Sow Thistle a milky white substance oozes out but that's not a Milk Thistle! Another very wrong name people here often use is a "Mexican Siskin"! I haven't yet seen a Mexican Siskin in Australia but the name "Mexican Siskin" can mean a Black-backed Siskin or the Black-headed Siskin but certainly not the specie we have here in Australia which originates in South America and the name is Black-hooded Siskin. So there is "Black-headed or Black Hooded" and "Sow Thistle or Milk Thistle". There's nothing worse then hearing breeders that have been breeding finches for many years using wrong name referring to a common plant or bird which is embarrassing having to correct them in front of other people. What you mean in this post I assume is a Sow Thistle?

Milk Thistle
http://www.discussion.1accesshost.com/index8.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.stevenfoster.com/photography ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&l ... mAX9homZBg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sow Thistle
http://www.google.com.au/search?q=Saw+t ... mAX9homZBg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_sowthistle" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Netsurfer wrote:I think there's been some misunderstanding here, as to what we call "Milk Thistle" and what we call "Saw Thistle". There are several varieties of Milk Thistle and all have large sharp thorns. Only the seed is given to birds, but the leafs and seed can be used for human consumption. On the other hand Saw Thistle does not have thorns therefore heads seed and leaves can be given to birds or can be eaten by human. If you breed Siskins or Goldfinches they would really thrive on Milk and Saw Thistle I always have about four or five plants growing on my property. When you break a stem of a Saw Thistle a milky white substance oozes out but that's not a Milk Thistle! Another very wrong name people here often use is a "Mexican Siskin"! I haven't yet seen a Mexican Siskin in Australia but the name "Mexican Siskin" can mean a Black-backed Siskin or a the Black-headed Siskin but certainly not the specie we have here in Australia which originates in South America and the name is Black-hooded Siskin. So there is "Black-headed or Black Hooded" and "Saw Thistle or Milk Thistle". There's nothing worse then hearing breeders that have been breeding finches for many years using wrong name referring to a common plant or bird which is embarrassing having to correct them in front of other people. What you mean in this post I assume is a Saw Thistle?

Milk Thistle
http://www.discussion.1accesshost.com/index8.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.stevenfoster.com/photography ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&l ... mAX9homZBg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Saw Thistle
http://www.google.com.au/search?q=Saw+t ... mAX9homZBg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks Netsurfer and I like the links you posted.Pictures help to tell the story.

I only ever call the stuff my birds love - particularly when covered with aphids - thistle. So I can't get in trouble. But it is saw thistle from the info supplied. Thanks.
LML

I'm confused. The saw thistle link opens up pictures of sow thistle, which is the stuff I've been calling milk thistle all my life. The purple flowered big one with really sharp spiked thorns everyone I know calls scotch thistle. Are we wrong? Or is it just that there are different common names for most plants (and finches too).

I'm with you Sam, those piccys are Scotch thistle (it's even their national floral emblem although it's found throughout Europe and Asia) and milk thistle respectively. Seems to me common names in our area are different to the common names in nireps area .

What I referred to in my previous answer as milk thistle is the one shown here as sow thistle. I agree the one with thorns is "scotcch thistle".

I have tried to Google "saw thistle" but nothing actually comes up except one site which is about Sow Thistle:

Commone Saw Thistle
http://www.bio.brandeis.edu/fieldbio/.. ... istle.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Flower: ½ - 1 in. (1.2 – 2 cm.) wide, yellow center with yellow rays coming off the center. Several flowers grow at the end of one stem. Leaf: 2.3 - 12 in. (6 – 30 cm.) ...

MadOzzie