LIND, Wash. (AP) — A canola farmer in Adams County has been left without his whole crop thanks to hundreds of horned larks who have decided to use his field for a buffet.

The Spokesman-Review reports that J.R. Swinger says at first he thought the birds were eating the seeds, but on second inspection they were snapping up the very tip of the sprout, without which his canola plants can't grow.

Swinger says the sprout, called a cotyledon, only exists for a few days and once it grew slightly the birds didn't want to eat it anymore.

Washington State University professor Bill Schillinger says he too has faced the Lark issue and can't find a solution. He says he's called canola farmers in other parts of the country and they don't see the birds.

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