North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>]

I apologize for the off-topic post, but I couldn't find this online. 
What are the brown spots that sometimes show up on my sweet corn AFTER 
cooking?

They don't look too appetizing! Heh, heh. Is it, er,... insect debris 
(the politest term I could think of) from inside the cob, forced out by 
the steam? But I haven't seen any other sign of insect infestation. If 
not, what is it? It didn't show up except on the very last ears I picked.

And as long as I'm on the (off-topic) subject, I had something eat the 
kernels from the tops of almost all of my ears of corn. I assumed that 
it was squirrels, but this is inside my electric fence, and I haven't 
seen any sign of them elsewhere in the backyard (normally, they'd go for 
the peaches first). I'm sure it wasn't opossums or raccoons. None of the 
ears were torn from the stalk. (Squirrels will usually try to carry 
stuff away.) The kernels were just eaten at the top, and for an 
irregular length below that.

So I'm wondering if it might have been birds. I've had a LOT of birds 
around, attacking all my fruit, even when it was netted. Do birds eat 
your sweet corn? This is only my second year of growing it, and nothing 
bothered it last year. (And no bugs or fungal problems, either. I'm 
amazed to have so few problems growing corn in Nebraska!)

Thanks,

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
They are in you and me; they created us, body and mind; and their 
preservation is the ultimate rational for our existence. They have come 
a long way, those replicators. Now they go by the name of genes, and we 
are their survival machines. - Richard Dawkins