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	Podcast:		Local Features by WXPR
	Episode:		A Case for Loving Thistle
	Category:		Government & Organizations
	Duration:		00:03:49
	Publish Date:		2019-08-19 05:00:00
	Description:		When’s the last time you thought about a thistle as beneficial? In this week’s Wildlife Matters, the Masked Biologist makes a case for loving the thistle. When last we spoke, I talked about the American Goldfinch, and its notable relationship with thistles. Of all the seeds that goldfinches eat, thistle seeds are by far their favorite. Even if you are not a biologist, if you feed birds you probably know your best chance of seeing goldfinches is if you put out a thistle sock or thistle tube. Their relationship with thistles extends even further; they use copious amounts of thistle-down in their nests. These birds rely so heavily on thistles, it is thought, that they time their nesting when the thistles produce their downy seed to provide nesting material and food for themselves and their young. Here’s the problem, though. Nobody loves thistles. Okay, Scottish people love thistles, but not many others. Sadly, if you look at the average thistle in a pasture or on the roadside today, it
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