hopi blue takes a hit

that exposed ear of hopi blue was about as done as it was going to get before something got at it so i picked it and deeply disturbed the earwigs that were hanging out at the base( gardening is not for the squeamish )...i knocked it off and shucked the ear and i believe there has been some gene flow going on...there was one fully yellow kernel on that ear ans it has various gradients of coloration that were missing in last years crop...we'll see what turns up as i shuck more ears...which may be soon because over in the pgp there has been predation....something has nailed three of the ears over there...but either it was interrupted or the find was unsatisfactory because nothing much was eaten...i took the nailed ears home ( but have not shucked them yet...more on that in a bit ) and i may be in defensive mode here...the season is latening and perhaps there are desperate critters around...last year i grew two hopi blues in the garden and nothing touched them...this year there are five and hey presto! squirrels ( no i don't know for sure...but they are the usual suspects )...year before last i grew a small stand of winter wheat in the pgp and the starlings left it alone...last year i grew a larger one and they ravaged it ( i was lucky to get about half )...this leaves me wondering if there is some sort of critical mass of produce that has to be reached before predators react or if it is all just chance...more research...that stuff never ends.