* Blackbird damage severe on state field crops
LANCASTER - At least
half of all Pennsylvania
farmers experience some
type of damage from birds.
Blackbirds alone are
responsible for an estimated
$12,500,000 loss annually in
the Commonwealth.
The situation was reported
recently by wildlife
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* SUBSIDIARY OF FOX INDUSTRIES INC MINNEAPOLIS MINN
management scientists at
Penn State. Damage to
ripening gram is the most
common loss to birds, they
said, followmg by loss to
fruit crops and feed supplies.
And there is considerable
contamination to feedlots
from droppings.
R.D. Mitchell and J.L.
George reported their fin
dings from a survey of 4000
farmers in the Com
monwealth. Mitchell is
research assistant while
George is professor of
wildlife management at
Penn State.
The blackbird species
s^/
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causing the problems m
Pennsylvania are the
common grackle, the
starling, the red-winged
blackbird, and the brown
headed cowbird. Mitchell
and George describe their
research in the upcoming
Summer issue of “Science in
Agnculturem,” the
magazine of the Agricultural
Experiment Station at Penn
State.
Field com losses averaged
$468 per farm annually in the
study. Yearly damage to
grapes averaged over $lOOO
per vineyard. And losses
from birds in animal feedlots
averaged from $3OO to over
$lOOO annually, depending on
thetypeoffeedlot.
Problems with blackbirds
are both urban and rural,
George pointed out. Such
birds roost in urban areas
and create a nuisance by the
noise as well as droppmgs
that accumulate on homes,
cars, and ground under
roosts. There is also a
possible hazard to human
health if the droppmgs ac
cumulate over time.
Such invasions of urban
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settings occur twice a year,
first m the Spring when
blackbirds migrate north to
their breeding grounds and
agam m the Summer after
the breeding season.
The most widespread
types of damage to farm
crops occur in late Summer
and early Fall when
blackbird roosts of 10,000 to
100,000 birds are scattered
all over the state. The birds
leave their roosts during the
day and go to fields of
ripening gram to feed.
Field com in the milk
dough stage is the crop most
frequently damaged. The
species largely responsible
for this is the red-winged
blackbird.
Control of corn damage
mvolves the use of exploders
or a chemical frightening
agent, known as Avitrol.
Both methods can be ef
fective when used properly.
Avitrol poisons the birds
which emit distress calls
that frighten away other
birds. The damage occurs
during a very short period,
probably less than one week.
But there are problems
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 16,1980—87
here also. The mam ob
jection to exploders is their
annoyance to people living in
the vicinity of protected
fields. Moreover, exploders
should be moved oc
casionally so the birds don’t
become too accustomed to
the loud sounds.
The mam problem with
Avitrol is the high cost of
application, smce it must be
applied by airplane. Other
gram crops damaged by
birds m Summer and early
Fall are oats, wheat, and
sweet com.
Cherries are the most
frequently damaged fruit
crop with reported losses
averagmg $487 per orchard
annually. Control of bird-
Maryland declared
pullorum-typhoid
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -
Maryland, a prominent
poultry-producing state, has
qualified for advanced
status under the National
Poultry Improvement Plan,
according to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
Certain poultry producmg
surveillance regulations
must be enforced by a state
to qualify for the U.S.
Pullorum-Typhoid Clean
State classification. Conor
mercial chicken and turkey
breeding flocks must be free
of Salmonella pullorum and
Salmonella galknarum—the
organisms that cause
pullorum and fowl typhoid—
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damage m cherry orchards,
the Penn Staters suggest,
can be achieved by using
exploders, protective net
ting, or chemical repellents.
The most commonly used
control method used by
cherry growers is the
chemical repellent Mesurol.
This is sprayed on ripening
cherries and causes a bird to
“choke” when trying to eat a
treated cherry. A study
carried out a year ago in
dicated a grower can save
$250 an acre by using
Mesurol.
The Penn State project
was financed partially from
fair funds administered by
the Pennsylvania Departs
ment of Agriculture.
clean
for 12 months prior to
qualification.
The NPIP was founded m
1935 to unprove poultry,
poultry products and hat
cheries through better
breeding practices and the
control of certain egg
transmitted and hatchery
disseminated diseases. The
plan in Maryland is directed
by George Stem Jr.
Raymond D. Schar, senior
coordinator for the NPIP
program of the Animal and
Plant Health Inspection
Service, said that cer
tificates designating this
status were presented last
Thursday at the Parole
Plaza Conference Center,
Annapolis, Md.
The certificates were
presented to Maryland
Secretary of Agriculture,
Wayne A. Cawley, Jr., and
also to a representative of
the Maryland poultry in
dustry. R.P. Jones, assistant
to the deputy administrator,
Veterinary Sciences,
APHIS, made the presen
tation on behalf of USDA.