Never seen them "eat" eggplant leaves but have seen them pick at the undersides. I think they were eating pests, especially those infamous eggplant bugs that I just canÂt remember the name of at the moment.

You sure it's not a horn worm or grasshopper. My Black Pearl ornamental pepper plant recently had 9 horn worms that had devoured all but the stalk. Dale

Are the birds making a nest? Can you follow where they go after they pick the leaves?

I have a similar problem this year, one I have never had before. My Swiss chard, of all things, is being eaten down to the ground. It started gradually, and I first thought it to be grasshoppers... but it grew steadily worse. Leaf fragments littered the ground beneath the plants.

Then one day I caught the culprits in the act. They had been in the garden all along, and I considered them to be harmless.

Goldfinches. They are actually eating the leaves, and judging by the damage, the chard is now a major part of their diet. They are nibbling on several other greens as well, including water spinach. Since this never occurred before, it makes me wonder if it is a learned behavior, taught by one adventurous finch. Who would have thought...

Now, if I could only figure out how to get rid of them!

I have had chronic problems with the sparrows eating my Swiss Chard and lettuces. I have found row cover works the best at keeping the birds out of my lettuces. I also tried hanging some old computer discs near my chard plants hoping the movement of them by the wind and the reflection from them would deter the birds and it did for a short time. After a few weeks, the birds figured out that the hanging discs weren't a threat and went back to eating my leaves.

I have been saying since my first days of gardening, at least 30-years ago, that a year never goes by without something new turning up. And here is the proof. Who'da thunk that these pretty little birds could suddenly become so destructive in the garden? As though we didn't already have enough enemies such as squirrels, rabbits, deer, groundhogs, etc. Now this!

I shoot sparrows with a .22 airgun, that takes care of the problem where all other methods fail. They are a problem in the orchard. Starlings too.