Mangement of birds in the crop fields

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2. Presented by:
Ch.Naga Satyasri
BAM-14-28
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3. What are Birds?
 Warm blooded animals – body covered
with feather – which can fly, swim and walk
– lay eggs – shows parental care
 They evolved from dinosaurs millions of
years ago
 The first bird is called as Archaeopteryx
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4. BIRD PESTS
 Birds causing a little damage to the crops are
now viewed seriously, and they often
recognized as “PESTS”.
 Favourable conditions:
 Bringing more of the land area under
cultivation.
 Abundant food availability.
These conditions enables, some granivorous and
frugivorous birds to harvest energy and
produce offspring more efficiently in
agricultural than in natural habitats.
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5. Diversity of the Birds
 There are about 8,6oo species of birds
found all over the world
 Of them 1400 species found in South Asia
 1295 found in India
 485 + found in Andhra Pradesh
 143 species were feeding on seeds and fruits
 Only 2.1% reorted to inflict serious damage
to crops.
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6.  A total of 63 species of birds belonging to 19
families have been identified to damaging
several crops.
 Among the 46 species of beneficial birds,
which devored insects and rodent pests, all
fed on insects while six of them also
consumed on rodents.
 Fifteen species of the beneficial species are
omnivorous.
 Omnivorous birds have a dual role in our
agro-ecosystem.
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7. Number of bird species that affected various crops
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Cereals Pulses Oilseeds Fruits
14 15
23
7
52

8. Type of Damage by birds
 Crops are being damaged by birds at sowing,
ripening and harvesting stages.
 After crop harvest, bird damage continues at
grain stores, shelling yards and market places.
 At the sprouting stage-some times this damage
is so severe that farmers have to re sow the
affected fields.
 The re sown crop may mature later than the
those sown at the normal time and suffer
relating more bird damage at the ripening
stage.
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9.  Negative impact of birds on agricultural crops
vary from region to region, season to season.
 Its depending on number of factors
 Number of depredatory species and their
density.
 Area under crop
 Ecology of the area
 Concentration of migrants
 Food habits as well as the physiological status
of birds.
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10.  When birds have eaten seeds or pulled out
seedlings they are taken away from the field.
Fruits injured by birds lose marketability.
Thus once attack of a bird to a seed or a fruit
produces 100%loss of it.
 Cereals more vulnerable to bird attack
especially at dough stage.
 Damage to the crops of smaller grains such
as pearl millet and sorghum was more
serious as compared to that in large size
grains (e.g.maize)
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11.  Small cereal grains preferred by both smaller
and larger birds, where as maize was
depredated primarily by larger species such as
parakeets and crows.
 Isolated fields are always prone to bird
damage,
 Early and late maturing fields were highly
susceptible.
 Hence or the even distribution of birds
damage, synchronization of crop cultivation is
advocated.
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12. Crop/Fruit Stage of
damage
Bird Extent of
loss (%)
Groundnut Ripening Crows 24
Maize Sprouting Crows, Doves, Babblers 20
Mustard Ripening Parakeets, Crows 63
Pearl millets Ripening Sparrows, Parakeets, Weaverbirds 10-100
Peas Ripening Pigeons 54
Pulses Sprouting Doves, Pigeons, Parakeets, Sparrows 66
Rice Sprouting Weaverbirds, Sparrows 41
Ripening Sparrows, Weaverbirds, Munias,
Parakeets, Saras cranes 26
Sorghum Ripening Pegions, Doves 12-85
Sunflower Sprouting Crows 65
Ripening Crows , parakeets 22
Wheat Sprouting Crows 17-20
Bird damage to crops and fruits.
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13. Pearl millet
 A total of 24 depredatory species were recorded in
pearl millet crop.
 Rose ringed parakeet, Rosy pastor, House sparrow,
Baya damaged the crop in Northwestern India.
 Estimation of bird damage varied highly in different
states.
 Highest in Gujarat (0.3 to 40%)
 Andhra pradesh (1.5 to 9%)
 Punjab (45%) and Delhi (60%) during kharif season
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14. White-cheeked Bulbul (Pycnonotus leucogenys)
• Feed on the Pearl millet crop in
large numbers in the arid and semi-
arid zones.
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15. Wheat
 Bird damage to wheat varied from 0.2 to
41% in different parts of the country.
 Damage was significantly high in Rajasthan.
 About 13 species of birds damaged standing
wheat.
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16. Paddy
 Paddy crop was prone to heavy damage by
birds under congenial conditions.
 Damage to paddy was highest in Punjab (0.1
to 6.5%), Kerala (1.5 to 6%), Andhra pradesh
(1.5 to 3%) and Gujarat (0.1 to 1%).
 Thirty –nine species of birds fed on the
grains of standing crop in Gujarat.
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17. Sorghum
 Bird damage to sorghum was highest in
Rajasthan (2.3 to 48%) and Andhra pradesh
(1.5 to 3%), Gujarat (0.4 to 18.6%).
 It is one of the preferred crops by the
granivorous birds.
 Total 26 species were recorded feeding on
sorghum.
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18. Maize
 Bird damage to maize was relatively less in
Gujarat (0.3 to 9.1%) as compared to Punjab
(3.3 to 7.5%), Andhra pradesh (3 to 9.1 %)
and Rajasthan (0 to 20%).
 Ten species of birds were recommended to
feed on maize, of which the Rose ringed
parakeet was important in all the states.
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19. Sunflower
 Rose ringed parakeet and House crow were
the predominant depredators and caused 10
to 30% damage in Andhra pradesh and 40
to 90% damage in Rajasthan.
 In Punjab the mean percentage of damage
is 5.7 to 29% .
 Only because of the bird problem, the crop
could not be introduced in Gujarat state.
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20. Groundnut
 During sowing to sprouting stage, 3 to
33%damage was done by ten species of
birds in Saurashtra region of Gujarat.
 The migratory Demoiselle cranes caused
damage up to 10% at the time of harvesting.
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21. safflower
 Rose ringed parakeet was the only species
feeding mainly on the peripheral plants of
the crop.
 The damage was negligible in Andhra
pradesh and Gujarat.
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22. Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri)
Habits:
A very adaptable species often
associated with cultivation.
Causes severe damage to the Maize
crop.
Feeds on: Pearl
millet,
Wheat, Paddy, Maize,
Sorghum, Sunflower,
Safflower
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23. Rosy Pastor ( Sturnus roseus)
Habit:-
Gregarious, form huge flocks at rich
feeding sources.
Causes damage to pearl millet, sorghum
•Habitat:-
Cultivation , damp
grass
land
• Food:- Insects , etc
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24. House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
• Causes damage to pearl millet,
paddy, sunflower
• It also feeds on green leafy
vegetables.
• Food:-
Omnivores,grains,
insects,fruits, buds
etc
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25. House Crow (Corvus splendens)
• Habitat:
Closely associated with
human activity.
• Damage wheat, cobs of maize,
jowar, groundnut, ripe fruits of
fig, mulberry and chillies.
• Food:-
Omnivorous and
also useful
scavenger.
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26. Baya Weaver (Ploceus philippinus)
• Habitat:
Cultivation , Paddy fields , pearl
millet,
• Food:-
Insects,grains,etc
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27. Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
Habits:
Often congregates in flocks
where food is abundant
Damaging the wheat fields
Food:Seeds,Cereals etc
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28. Blue Rock Pigeon (Columba livia)
•Habits:
Lives in colonies all year
Feeds on
Cereals,pulses,nuts etc
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29. Ruff and Reeve ( Philomachus pugnax)
Damage the wheat fields
Damage by these birds reported first
time in coastal areas of Gujarat
when the crop is at sowing and
seedling stage.
•Food:
Seeds, annelids,
molluscs, crustaceans,
spiders, insects, fish
and amphibians
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30. Black-tailed Godwit ( Limosa limosa )
•Habits:
Feeds mainly by walking slowly
Damage the wheat fields
Damage by these birds reported first
time in coastal areas of Gujarat
when the crop is at sowing and
seedling stage.
Food:
Aquatic insects
larvae,worms,
molluscs etc.
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31. Lesser Whistling Teal (Dendrocygna javanica)
•Habits:
Roosts in the daytime in trees
•Habitat: grass land and paddy
fields
•Damaged paddy crop in Kole
area of Kerala.
•Food:
Chiefly vegetarian;
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32. Demoiselle Crane ( Anthropoides virgo)
• Habits:
Highly Gregarious
• Damage Wheat and Groundnut
crops
• Heavily damaged wheat fields in
Bhal area of Gujarat.
• The migratory Demoiselle cranes
caused damage up to 10% at the time
of harvesting of groundnut crop.
• Food:- Insects,
aquatic insects
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33. Short – toed lark (Calandrella cinerea)
• Habit:
Similar to those of other larks
Damaged wheat fields heavily in
Bhal area of Gujarat.
Food:
Insects,etc
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34. Pied Myna or Asian pied starling
• Granivorous bird feeds mainly on
sorghum
Food:
•Food:-
•Insects,figs, etc
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36. Evaluation of beneficial role of birds
 Although it is well known that insectivorous
and predatory birds play a very useful role in
controlling insect and rodent pests of crops,
only a few attempts have been made to
evaluate this role and these too only in case of
insectivorous birds.
 Our knowledge on the impact of predatory
birds on rodent populations in India is
practically nil.
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37.  Patel et al (1987) found that house sparrow, common myna, red-
vented bulbul, Pycnonotus cafer and three other bird species in
addition to wasps play important role in reducing Catopsilla sp. larvae
in a medicinal crop, Cassia angustifolia.
 Several species of insectivorous birds have been found to feed on
insect pests of crops including Helicoverpa armigera
(Chakravarthy 1988; Parasharya et al 1988; Singh et al 1990).
 In doing so, some of these species transmitt nuclear poly hedrosis
virus infecting H. armigera to healthy larvae of this pest (Vyas et al
1988).
 Bird predators of some other insect pests have also been found to play
an important role in biological control of insect pests through disease
transmission (Battu 1987; Vyas et al 1988b), besides direct predation.
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38. Stone curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus)
Habitat:
Fallow country,Preffered open
fields,scrub forests,etc
Food:
Lizards,Insects,worms etc
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39. Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia)
 Habits:- Arboreal,
Seen in pairs or in
small parties in
gardens.
 Food:-
Larvae,insects, etc
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40. Oriental Magpie-Robin (Copsychus saularis )
 Habitat:-
Mainly gardens and grooves in
the villages
 Food:-
Chiefly insects
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41. Indian -Robin (Saxicoloides fulicata )
 Habits:-
seen in pairs, stony scrub
areas.
 Food:-
Chiefly insectivorous
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42. Black – winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus)
 Habits:-
Seen regularly in winter
 Food:-
 Larvae,Aquatic insects,etc
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43. Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)
 Habits:- Gregarious,
mostly associated with
cattle
 Habitat:-
Damp grass land, Paddy
fields
 Food:- fishes, frogs,
Insects, etc
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44. Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus caeruleus)
 Habits:-
 Usually seen in cultivated areas
with scattered trees or woodland
glades.
 Food:- Insects
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45. Pariah Kite (Milvus migrans govinda)
•Habits:- Gregarious throughout
the year
• Habitat:-
Around human habitation
•Food:-
Garbage remains,termites,etc
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Red-wattled Lapwing (vanellus indicus)
Habitats:-
Any open flat ground near water
•Food:-
Grubs,Insects,
molluscs,etc

47. Barn Owl (Tyto alba)
•Habits:-
Nocturnal bird seen
singles or in pairs in old
forts,ruins
Food:- Rats,Mice,
Lizards etc
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48. Spotted Owlet (Athene brama)
•Habits:-
It is crepuscular and nocturnal
Food:- Chiefly insectivorous, also
lizards
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49. Green Bee-eater( Merops orientalis )
•Habits:-
Usually in pairs,seen in open
country,Telegraphic wires in the
city environs
• Habitats:-
Open country with scattered
trees
•Food:-
Insectivourous,Mainly feeds on
Diptera
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50. Red rumped swallow (Hirundo darica)
•Habits:-
Gregarious can be seen on
telegraphic wire, etc
• Habitats:-
Open grassy hill slopes
• Food:-
Insectivorous
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51. Bay-backed Shrike (Lanius vittatus)
•Habits:-
singles , seen in dry open country.
Food:- Locusts,mice
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52. Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus)
•Habits:-
Open country,Usually perches
on telegraph wires.
• Habitats:-
Open cultivation
Food:-
Insectivorous
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53. Bank Myna (Acridotheres ginginianus)
•Food:- Insects
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56. Indigenous Machan
Flagged bamboos
Scare crow on the Machan
Use of white cloths

57. Artificial predatory birds Covering polythene sheet
Throwing stones Hanging birds

58. Eco-friendly management of
depredatory birds
 Wrapping method on maize crop
 Reflective ribbon for bird scaring
 Screen crop
 Lure crop
 Bio-acoustics
 Automatic mechanical bird scarer
 Botanical repellents
 Seed treatment for protecting sprouting seeds
 Integrated Bird Pest Management
 Habitat manipulation
 Netting
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59.  Lethal and non-lethal methods of control have been tried
against different birds in different parts of India. Killing is
considered to be the surest way of getting rid of harmful
birds but public opinion has swayed against bird killing.
 In certain situations, however, farmers need to kill a few
birds to scare others. Shooting involves a lot of labour,
very costly and not easily available.
 Certain traps, however, can be easily constructed for
catching
crows and other birds.
 Fumigation of nest holes and nest destruction for
population reduction is also very labour intensive, Some
chemicals have been found to be efficient poison baits
against pest birds. The killing of most of the bird species
is illegal in India.
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60.  Non-lethal control measures call for special attention and
research on them should be intensified. Studies have been
conducted on chemical and physical bird repellents in
germinating and maturing crops.
 Recently, a method involving camouflaging maize cobs has
been discovered which protects ripening maize from rose-
ringed parakeets (Dhindsa et al 1990).
 Despite the above studies, the state of our knowledge
on bird control is preliminary.
 In fact, this area is still developing even in the
developed countries and there is a lot of scope for innovative
work.
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61.  Covering maize cobs by wrapping adjacent green
leaves around them reduced the damage to a
negligible level by parakeets and crows.
 Being hidden camouflaged, the wrapped cobs
escape detection by birds.
 Parakeet damage is restricted to peripheral rows,
covering of 50% cobs at random on outer 3 rows
of the field is sufficient to effectively reduce bird
damage.
 This method is very simple and effective method .
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Wrapping method on maize crop

62.  Reflective ribbon is a polyester film with metallic
shining coating with red on one side and silver on
the other.
 It is prepared by cutting along continuous polyester
sheet in to strips of 1.5 cm width.
 Strips preferably 15 to 20 cm long, are fixed parallel
to the crop at 0.5 m height above the crop and at 5m
intervals using bamboo poles and strings.
 For better reflection the string should be placed in
North to south direction.
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Reflective ribbon for bird scaring

63.  During sunshine the reflection of sunlight and
humming noise produced by the wind scares
the birds from the field.
 This device is effective only for 15 to 20 days.
 This technique is very effective and easily
acceptable to the farmers.
 Birds like rose ringed parakeet, house sparrow,
house crow and mynas on the crops like
sunflower, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, and
orchards are scared by this device.
 Effective against Demoiselle cranes in
groundnut and against depredatory birds in
other cereals and fruit crops.
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65.  Thick planting of sorghum (fodder crop) as
well as of maize significantly reduced
parakeet damage to maize crop grown for
grain production.
 Besides giving better yield, this practice also
provides additional fodder.
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Screen crop

66.  Growing of sorghum (fodder crop) near the
pearl millet significantly reduced bird
damage to the main crop-pearl millet.
 Against Rose ringed parakeet
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Lure crop

67.  The acoustic equipment consists of 1 stereo tape recorder with 30 w
amplifier, 2 speakers and one 12 v battery.
 Distress calls of birds were pre-recorded in tape.
 The operation of the equipment should be done form a distance of about
100 meters and the speakers should kept in bushy spot near the field
area.
 Depending on the intensity of bird activity, the frequency of play should
be setup at regular time intervals.
 Broadcasting of such distress calls of depredatory birds kept the birds
away from Maize fields and also other crops.
 This method is very effective on orchards and small acreage crops.
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Bio-acoustics

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69.  Also know as pyrotechnic method.
 It is a sound producing device, works
continuously for a whole day with 1 kg of
calcium carbide and water.
 One hectare areas can be covered with this
method.
 Care must be taken about the frequency of
firing and change of positions and directions
to avoid bird getting habituated.
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Automatic mechanical bird
scarer

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71.  Neem cake solution is prepared by soaking
neem cake @ 200 or 300 g/lit. of water and
kept for fermentation for 8-10 days.
 The fermented solution is than decanted
and this solution is used as spray fluid.
 Neem cake solution @200 g/lit of water
showed effective in controlling bird damage
in maize.
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Botanical repellents

72.  Spraying of botanical formulation like BBR (Bio Bird
Repellent)+ and Fortune Azar (neem formulation)
in the field reduced number of visiting birds and
resulted in higher yield (714.25 kg/ha) compared to
control (531.7 kg /ha) in Andhra Pradesh.
 Spraying of BBR+ (5%) and Fortune Azar (5%) in the
fields of pearl millet reduced bird visits and
significantly reduced bird damage in Gujarat.
 Tobacco leaf decoction (10%) spray on sorghum at
milk stage reduced bird damage at Anand.
 In Punjab bird damage to sunflower on block area
showed lesser damage. A minimum block size of 12
acres is required to reduce parakeet damage to 1%
level.
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73.  Thiram 0.5% and copper hydroxide is very
effective in reducing the seedling losses due
to birds in maize, chickpea, soybean,
sunflower and groundnut.
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Seed treatment for protecting
sprouting seeds

74.  Integrated Bird Pest Management (IBPM)
using reflective ribbons and botanicals in
sorgum and wrapping in maize along with
ribbon fields gave higher yield in Andhra
pradesh.
 During vulnerable stage of the maize crop
wrapping of cobs along with installation of
reflective ribbons proved effective and
controlled bird pests significantly and
obtain higher yields.
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Integrated Bird Pest Management

75.  Creating continuous disturbances to the
nesting sites of the depredatory breeding
birds in around the cropped areas that the
birds will force to leave breeding grounds
and shift to another area.
 For parakeets in additional to manual
destruction of nests, closing the entrance of
the nests proved effective in reducing their
populations.
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Habitat manipulation

76.  Planting of some fruit bearing trees like
Manila tamarind (Pithecalobium dulce),
Flame of the forest (Butea monosperma)
Mulberry (Morus alba) and Toothbush tree
(Salvadora persica) in and around cropped
area attracts many granivorous birds during
fruiting period and reduces the impact at
vulnerable stage of the crop (maize).
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78.  It is the best methods and gives complete
protection to the crops.
 The nylon net having a mesh sufficiently
prevent passage of even small granivorous
birds.
 The method is recommended for high value
trails (or) breeder seed experiments or
multiplication trails.
 It is very expensive for large acreages plots.
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Netting

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80.  Agricultural regions in India have been experiencing
heavy and indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides
since many years and birds must have been
contaminated with their residues, especially with
those of chlorinated hydrocarbons.
 Birds of prey being at the top of the food chain are
the most likely victims of pesticidal contamination.
 Mortality of these and other birds due to toxic
chemicals and pathogenic organisms also needs to
be looked into.
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Threatens….

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