Lec. 32. Bird pests and their management.ppsx

Ppt

1. AEN 301 PESTS OF FIELD CROPS AND THEIR
MANAGEMENT (2+1)
Lec. No. Title
32 BIRD PESTS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT
Dr. N. MUTHUKRISHNAN, Ph.D.
Professor (Entomology)
Department of Agricultural Entomology
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University
Coimbatore 641 003
94862 57548

2. BIRD PESTS
•Vertebrate warm-blooded animals
•Total number of bird species -about
8600
•Cause considerable damage to growing
field crops, fruit trees, orchards,
threshing yards and in houses

3. BIRD SPECIES AS PESTS OF CROPS
•House sparrow: Passer domesticus
•Parrot: Psittacula eupatria;
P. krameri; P. cyanocephale
•Crow: Corvus splendens
•Pigeon: Columba livia
•Peacock: Pava cristatus
•Bulbul: Pycnonotus cafer
•Baya: Ploceus philippinus
•Myna: Aeridothares tristis
•Green bee eater: Merops orientalis
•Wild duck: Pterocyanea discors

4. House sparrow: Passer domesticus
•Omnivorous- eats grain, insects,
fruit buds, flower nectar and
kitchen scraps
•Causes severe damage to
sorghum, smaller millet, wheat,
rice and small succulent fruits
both in field and storage
conditions
•Lives and build nest in a hole in
ceiling niche in wall, inverted
lamp shade and every
conceivable site within or
without an occupied building

5. •A thin black patch from beak
to eye and a broader one from
chin to upper breast
•Bill of both male and female -
short and stout
•Sparrows go in groups to
country side when corn and
fruits are plentiful
•5 brood/year
•Nest untidy

7. Parakeet Psittacula krameri
•Most familiar -Indian birds
•Rose-ringed parakeet-Often band into
large flocks
•Highly destructive at all times to crops
and orchard fruits
•Gnawing and wasting far more that
actually eats and cause heavy damage
to agricultural and horticultural crops
•Sunflower, maize, sorghum, smaller
millets, wheat, gram, pea, guava,
jamun, mango, papaya and other fruits
•Sexually dimorphic- adult male sports a
red neck-ring and hen and immature
birds of both sexes either show no neck
rings, or display shadow-like pale to
dark grey neck rings

8. Parakeet Psittacula krameri
•Rose ringed Parakeet
•Long and slim tail, grass-
green plumage
•A short, hooked, red bill
•Male -has a collar round
neck which is red on top and
black at chin
•Female- has only green
coloured ring round neck

9. •Eat Fruits and grain
•In thousands – destroy
whole fields within a few
hours
•Breeding season - February
– March
•Use debris for nesting
materials in holes in trees
•Lay 3 to 6 eggs white, oval
eggs
•Bird wastes more than eats

10. House Crow, Corvus splendens
•Most familiar bird of Indian towns and
villages
•Live in close association of man and
obtain livelihood from his works
•Cause heavy damage to maturing or
ripe crops of agricultural and
horticultural importance specially to
sorghum, groundnut, wheat, chillies,
smaller millets, papaya, mango, guava
•Also menace to poultry farming as
they take away young chicken and
eggs and to livestock breeder as they
peck eyes out of newly born lambs
• Also useful scavenger

11. •Not found in Kodaikanal like hilly
areas
•Male and female- alike
•Smaller in size than jungle crow
•Seventeen inches in length
•Round wide patch of grey colour in
neck -Rest of body -black
•Eggs -laid from April to August
•Nests seen on trees, telephone poles
Twigs of shorts trees, bit of wire
•Lay 4 to 7 light blue to greenish eggs
with dark spots
•Damaging groundnut, sorghum,
chillies, and eggs and chicks of birds,
eyes of new born lamps, locusts

12. Jungle Crow, Corvus macrorhynchos
•Bigger in size
•Jet black complexion with heavy bill
•Effective scavengers
•Grey coloured bird with neck and
upper breast of a greenish and purple
•Two dark bars on wings and a band
across tail - prominent
•Commonly seen on old buildings,
churches, temples, railway stations,
warehouses, etc.
•Well adapted to noisy places.
•Fly to threshing floors, grain fields, and
pickup grains.
•Fly in large numbers- heavy losses

13. Pigeon Columba livia
•Slaty-grey in colour- neck and
upper breast metallic green and
purple
•Two dark bars on wings and a
broad black bar across tail-end
•A white patch at root of outer
feathers
•Bill -black, with a swollen base
•Legs – reddish

14. Bulbul Pycnonotus cafer
•Bulbul -found throughout
India.
•Common in gardens and
light scrub jungles, both
near and away from human
habitations.
•Large numbers collect to
feed on grain crops, newly
sprouting vegetables and
fruits and termite swarms

15. Baya: Ploceus philippinus

16. Baya: Ploceus philippinus
•Both males and females are
 
polygamous.
Males build many partial nests and begin
courting females
•Male finishes nest only after finding a mate
•Female lays about 2 to 4 white eggs and
incubates for about 14 to 17 days.
[
•Males may assist in feeding chicks- Chicks
leave nest after about 17 days
•After mating with a female -male typically
court other females at other partially
constructed nests
•Intraspecific
 
brood parasitism 
is known-
females may lay their eggs in nests of others

17. Green bee eater: Merops orientalis
•Entire plumage -bright green and tinged with
blue especially on chin and throat
•Crown and upper back -tinged with golden
rufous
•Flight feathers -rufous washed with green and
tipped with blackish
•A fine black line runs in front of and behind eye
•Iris -crimson and bill -black while legs- dark
grey
•Feet - weak with three toes joined at base
•Bee-eaters predominantly eat
 
insects,
especially
 
bees,
 
wasps 
and 
ants -caught in air
by sorties from an open perch

18. Myna Acridothere tristis
•Eleven inches in length
•Dark brown with bright yellow bill and
legs
•Colour around eyes- yellow
•Has a larger white patch on inside of
flight feathers - clearly seen when flies
found up to a height of 2,700 m
•Breeding season April –September
•Lay 4-6 deep blue eggs
•Nest made in holes in wall or tree -
trunks out of feathers, twigs, leaves etc.
•Eats house scraps, fruits, berries, grain,
earthworms, grasshoppers, crickets and
caterpillars, and meat of dead animals

19. •5 - 6 broods/ year; peak
in January to May
•Nest on natural rock
cliffs
•Lays 2 elongate white
oval egg
•It feeds on grains
•Transmits - Ornithosis,
Salmonella food poising

20. •Bird of spring
•Male and female are not
similar
•Male - glistening black
bill –yellowish green;
eyes - crimson
•Female- brown with white
spots overhead; back, wings
and tail barred with white
•Lays eggs in crow's nest
•Feeds on berries, insects,
caterpillars
•Not found in hills
Quail Coturnix coturnix

21. Black Drongo or King CrowDicrurus macrocercus
•Slim, agile bird
•Glossy black - Long, forked tail
white patch at the end
•Male and female alike
•Food - mainly of insects
•Efficient Predator

22. •In the size of a pigeon with a longer tail
and slender body
•Back and head -grey
•Belly -lighter colour, with brown-
coloured hair all over
•Middle portion of tail - a number of
white and black stripes
•Eyes and feet –yellowish
•Bill -greenish yellow
•Feeds on fruits, berries and insects
•Swallows poisonous hairy insects which
other birds avoid
Hawk Cuckoo Hierococcyx varius

23. Jungle Babblers Seven Sisters Turdoides striatus
•About ten inches in length
•Long tail
•Ventral - yellowish ashy
•Eye lids-white with a touch
of yellow
•Bill and feet -colour of an
onion
•Eat spiders, insects, berries,
figs, grain and flower nectar

24. Kite Milvus migrans
•Ash-brown body and forked tail
•Wings darker than rest of body
•Head and neck -have a pale yellow
colour complexion
•Bill and claws -black
•Feeds on silkworm pupa, rat etc.
•Sharp eye; pounce and attack prey

25. Hoopoe Upupa epops
•Brownish bird with zebra-
shaped feathers
•Fan shaped crest and a long bill
•Fees on caterpillars and other
insects that live under grass and
fallen leaves

26. Blue Jay / Roller Garrulus lanceolatus
•Head- blue, a black bill,
Abdomen and under
parts -pale blue
•Wings of varying
shades of blue
•Feeds on lizards, frogs,
large insects and small
insects

27. Owl Tyto alba
•Eyes -not at the sides but in front
•Can move neck
•Flies noiselessly
•Ears -shorter and covered with
small feathers
•Kill mice and squirrels

28. •Cultural methods
–Deep sowing of seeds and covering seeds with soil
–Growing trap crops near main crop
–Use of plant varieties physically and gustatory
unattractive
•Use of nylon nets
–Spreading nylon net or reflector tapes over crops
and orchards-protect birds attack
•Habitat manipulation
–Alter preferred bird-habitat by removing food, water
and shelter
Management of Bird Pests

29. •Use of deterrents
–Use scare-crow or human figure errected in fields-scare
birds like crows
–Acetylene gun-device to produce loud sound by the action
of water on calcium carbide-sound scare away birds
–Making drumming sound on metal tins (tatooning) and
vessels
–Use of bioacoustics –birds alarm signals –recorded and
played in fields at intervals
–Insect repellents – (lindane and malathion 50 EC) or avian
feeding deterrent (tetra methy thiuram disulphide-TMTD)-
repel bird
Management of Bird Pests

30. Management of Bird Pests
•Destruction of nests and roosting places
–Eg. against parrot, Myna (Acridotherestristis) and other birds
–Fumigation with aluminium phosphide –for birds that make
nests on trees or in wall holes (Mynasa, parrots)
–Limited use due to scattered distribution and in accessible
height
•Trapping
–Trapped by using a sticky material-used for meat purpose
–Flood light trap, decoy trap, nets, cages – to trap birds
–Use sticky glue –LASSO- on tip of a pole-Bird catchers

31. Management of Bird Pests
•Baiting:
–Chappati or grains soaked in insecticide solution -used for
killing some birds- Proper disposal of such birds-necessity
–Immobilizing agents-alpha chloralos (1-2%)-to immobilize
sprrow and pigeons
•Use of resistant variety:
–Varieties of sorghum and bajra have been identified which
are not attacked by birds 
•Use of bird scarer:
–Erecting a dummy model or beating of empty kerosene tins
or acetylene guns to create loud noise at regular intervals.

32. Scare crow
•One of the oldest designs of bird
scarer- scarecrow in shape of a
human figure
•Scarecrow idea -built upon numerous
times, and not all visual scare devices
are shaped like humans
•"Flashman Birdscarer," Iridescent
tape, "TerrorEyes" balloons, and other
visual deterrents -built on idea of
visually scaring birds
•Method doesn't work so well with all
species, considering that some species
frequently perch on scarecrows

37. Hawk eyes bird scarer

38. kite

42. Bird control spikes on a
building frontage sign
Bird control spikes on a roof
Bird deterrent attached to a
light pole on
Houghton highway viaduct,
 
Australia

43. Auditory scarers
Propane cannons (propane gas guns)
•Popular types of bird scarer used by
farmers in Europe and America
•Powered gas gun -produces a periodic
loud explosion
•Audible bang can reach volumes in
excess of 150 decibels near the gun
•Problem with gas gun scarers
–Loud bangs also irritate people
living on nearby properties, or other
people using countryside
–Birds adapt quickly to any sound
that does not randomize its
magnitude, pitch, or time interval
•Propane cannons become ineffective
after a short while.

45. Electronic repellers (digitally recorded distress
sounds)
•Effective sonic repellers in market
•Consisting of a central unit and
several speakers
•System emits distress calls-if it is a
quality product, calls of predators
of target species as well
•Effective emitters randomize
pitch, magnitude, time interval,
sound sequence and other factors
to prevent birds from getting used
to them

46. Ultrasonic scarers
•Ultrasonic devices -static sound-emitting bird deterrents
•Annoy birds to keep them away from enclosed or semi-
enclosed areas
•Not harmful to birds- however there is debate around birds'
ability to hear these frequencies at loud enough decibels.
•Bird -believed to have similar hearing to humans with
studies showing birds do not hear on an ultrasonic level
•Thus ultrasonic scarers-have little or no effect in deterring
birds