{"id":48140,"date":"2021-06-25T18:14:19","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T22:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/?p=48140"},"modified":"2024-11-06T15:16:08","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T20:16:08","slug":"at-orchards-and-vineyards-birds-are-outperforming-pesticides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/at-orchards-and-vineyards-birds-are-outperforming-pesticides\/","title":{"rendered":"At Orchards and Vineyards, Birds Are Outperforming Pesticides"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-group sidebar-alignright sidebar-space order-bottom\"><div class=\"article-list list-style alignright\"><h2 class=\"article-list-header\">More From Living Bird<\/h2><ul><li class=\"article-item\"><div class=\"article-item-container\"><div class=\"article-item-media  content-living-bird-toc\"><figure class=\"article-item-media-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/TOC-FI-BEagle-Kushner.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/TOC-FI-BEagle-Kushner-720x405.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/TOC-FI-BEagle-Kushner-240x135.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/TOC-FI-BEagle-Kushner-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/TOC-FI-BEagle-Kushner-480x270.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/TOC-FI-BEagle-Kushner.jpg 988w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Bald Eagle--Photographer Brian Kushner captured the eagle\u2019s power and grace with this action photo.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"article-item-body\"><span class=\"article-item-header\">Living Bird Summer 2021\u2014Table of Contents<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"article-item\"><div class=\"article-item-container\"><div class=\"article-item-media  content-living-bird-toc\"><figure class=\"article-item-media-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest.png 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest-240x180.png 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest-480x360.png 480w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Living Bird-latest issue\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"article-item-body\"><span class=\"article-item-header\">Living Bird Magazine\u2014Latest Issue<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"article-item\"><div class=\"article-item-container\"><div class=\"article-item-media  content-article\"><figure class=\"article-item-media-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive.png 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive-240x180.png 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive-480x360.png 480w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Living Bird archives\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"article-item-body\"><span class=\"article-item-header\">Living Bird Magazine Archives<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n<p><small>From the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/living-bird-summer-2021-table-of-contents\">Summer 2021<\/a> issue of <em>Living Bird<\/em> magazine. <a href=\"https:\/\/join.birds.cornell.edu\/page\/14522\/donate\/1\">Subscribe now<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\n<p>Jim Nugent grows cherries on his 40-acre orchard in Michigan\u2019s Lee\u00adlanau County, an idyllic peninsula of dunes and tree-covered hills jutting into vast blue Lake Michigan. The sur\u00adrounding water moderates the worst of the frigid winters here, and the rolling topography drains cold air from the upland orchards. Cherries thrive in the sandy soil.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fruit belt in Michigan is pretty tight to the coastline of Lake Michigan,\u201d says Nugent. In that limited geography grow nearly half the U.S. production of tart cherries, and quite a few sweet cherries, too.<\/p>\n<p>Despite ideal growing conditions, the cherry orchards here are beset by pests\u2014a plethora of insects; deer mice and voles that gnaw the bark and roots of fruit trees; and flocks of fruit-eating birds that swoop into orchards, espe\u00adcially as sweet cherries ripen in early July.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe damnedest thing you ever saw,\u201d Nugent says of the birds. \u201cThey keep flapping their wings to stay in the tree. You get a cherry tree with six or eight seagulls on it and the limbs will be drooped down from their weight. It\u2019s almost a comical sight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But not comical to the bottom line of a cherry grower, or any fruit farmer. A 2013 study showed that fruit crop damage from birds alone ranged from $104 per hectare in Oregon tart cherries to $7,267 per hectare in Washington Honeycrisp apples. Yield losses to rodents and birds in several high-value crops in California were estimated at 5% or greater.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group sidebar-alignright sidebar-space order-bottom\"><!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code -->\r\n<span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\">\r\n    <span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\" id=\"hs-cta-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\">\r\n        <!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div><![endif]-->\r\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/cta-redirect.hubspot.com\/cta\/redirect\/95627\/096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\" ><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img\" id=\"hs-cta-img-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\" style=\"border-width:0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/95627\/096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da.png\"  alt=\"subscribe to Living Bird magazine\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\r\n    <\/span>\r\n    <script charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/js.hscta.net\/cta\/current.js\"><\/script>\r\n    <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n        hbspt.cta.load(95627, '096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da', {});\r\n    <\/script>\r\n<\/span>\r\n<!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code -->\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>So orchard owners are always on the lookout for better pest control. Thirty years ago, when Nugent worked for the Michigan State University Extension Service, he heard a professor of fisheries and wildlife recommend putting up nesting boxes to attract American Kes\u00adtrels for controlling fruit-eating pests. Nugent built and set up his own kestrel box, which was occupied right away, and says he saw immediate results: \u201cFrom the time I started getting nesting kestrels, I sure observed a decline in [pest] problems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Across America and beyond, farm\u00aders and vineyard and orchard owners are enlisting wild birds\u2014from raptors to songbirds\u2014in a sustainable battle against pests. They erect nest boxes, install raptor perches, or plant inviting native cover\u2014all of which offer less expensive natural pest control than other traditional methods.<\/p>\n<p>Birds are environmentally benign, while poisons are not. And pest-controlling birds stay on the job, while pesti\u00adcides must be reapplied, and the effect of bird-scaring balloons, hawk silhouettes, and propane cannons quickly wears off.<\/p>\n<p>Says Nugent, \u201cAll of that takes a lot more effort than if you can get a kestrel to nest next to the orchard.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignfull size-large dark\">\n                  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/CherryOrchcard-Watson2.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\">\n                  <figcaption>Kestrel box at Cherry Bay Orchards on Michigan\u2019s Leelanau Peninsula. <em>Photo by Craig Watson<\/em>.<\/figcaption>\n                <\/figure>\n<h3>Cherries, Kestrels, and Agritourism<\/h3>\n<p>Cherry Bay Orchards\u2014the largest cherry grower on the Leelanau Peninsula, with 1,200 acres of tart cherries, 300 acres of sweet cherries, and 275 acres of apples\u2014has been dotted with kestrel boxes since the son of one of the workers began building them for an Ea\u00adgle Scout project. Kestrels immediately took to the boxes.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/AKestrel-Welling.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/AKestrel-Welling-720x956.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/AKestrel-Welling-768x1019.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/AKestrel-Welling-480x637.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/AKestrel-Welling.jpg 1130w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Orchard owners on Michigan\u2019s Leelanau Peninsula have put up kestrel nest boxes and have seen a significant decline in fruit losses to pests. The kestrel population on the peninsula has increased as well. Photo by Dave Welling\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>Orchard owners on Michigan\u2019s Leelanau Peninsula have put up kestrel nest boxes and have seen a significant decline in fruit losses to pests. The kestrel population on the peninsula has increased as well. <em>Photo by Dave Welling.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure><\/div>\n<p>Forty years later, \u201cwe\u2019ve probably got 75% to 80% occupancy right now,\u201d says Francis Otto, orchard manager, who has worked for Cherry Bay for 34 years. \u201cEspecially when you\u2019re putting the new orchards in, it really helps keeping the mice down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Otto loves seeing the migratory kes\u00adtrels show up in April when they return to the orchard to nest: \u201cThey\u2019ll be up on the wires with a mouse dangling from their talons, so you know they\u2019re doing some good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Catherine Lindell, an associate professor of biology at Michigan State University, studied Cherry Bay and other orchards in the area between 2012 and 2016 and found that kestrels reduced the number of fruit-eating birds by killing some and scaring others away. Every dollar spent on nest boxes saved from $84 to $357 of sweet cher\u00adries from fruit-eating birds. Orchards with active kestrel boxes also had fewer mice and voles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt really is a low-cost thing that farmers can do to add to their integrated pest-management strategy,\u201d says Lindell.<\/p>\n<p>Farmers aren\u2019t the only ones averse to pesticides. Research with Lindell\u2019s Michigan State colleague Phil Howard showed consumers liked learning that raptors, rather than pesticides, had played a role in the growing of fruit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConsumers were really enthusiastic about [farmers] using kestrel boxes or falconry to manage pest birds, so we encouraged growers to let their cus\u00adtomers know about that,\u201d Lindell says. Attracting beneficial birds could also be a draw for \u201cagritourists,\u201d she says, which is allowing some growers to develop a birdwatching side to their business.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery alignwide columns-2 border is-cropped size-large\">\n                <ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/LeelanauOrchardsign-720x468.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/LeelanauOrchardsign-720x468.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/LeelanauOrchardsign-1280x833.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/LeelanauOrchardsign-768x500.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/LeelanauOrchardsign-480x312.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/LeelanauOrchardsign.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" alt=\"Leelanau orchard sign. Photo by Craig Watson.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>Leelanau orchard sign. <em>Photo by Craig Watson.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/LeelanauCherries-Watson-720x468.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/LeelanauCherries-Watson-720x468.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/LeelanauCherries-Watson-1280x833.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/LeelanauCherries-Watson-768x500.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/LeelanauCherries-Watson-480x312.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/LeelanauCherries-Watson.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" alt=\"Cherries at the Leelanau orchard. Photo by Craig Watson.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>Cherries at the Leelanau orchard. <em>Photo by Craig Watson.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n              <\/figure>\n<p>And, Lindell found that orchard nest boxes are good for the kestrels. In Leelanau County, kestrel numbers seem to be increasing. She says the nest boxes in the area have a high rate of occu\u00adpancy\u2014good news for a species that has declined by more than 50% across the continent over the past 50 years.<\/p>\n<p>But it turns out kestrels aren\u2019t perfect for pest control everywhere. When Lindell moved her research farther south into Michigan\u2019s blueberry region, starlings took over many of the nest boxes. Blueberries also ripen later in the summer, after kestrels have finished nesting and cleared out. And unfortu\u00adnately, other local potentially beneficial raptors (such as Merlin or Cooper\u2019s Hawk) don\u2019t use nest boxes.<\/p>\n<p>But in Michigan\u2019s cherry country, orchard owners and kestrels are forging a mutually beneficial partnership.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the most part farmers are very enthusiastic because they\u2019re interested in maintaining the environment, too,\u201d says Lindell. \u201cIf it helps to reduce pes\u00adticide use, they like to do that. It costs them money to use pesticides.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n              <figure class=\"size-large alignnone\">\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Barn-Owl-Bourbour.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Barn-Owl-Bourbour-1280x960.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Barn-Owl-Bourbour-720x540.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Barn-Owl-Bourbour-1280x960.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Barn-Owl-Bourbour-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Barn-Owl-Bourbour-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Barn-Owl-Bourbour-480x360.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Barn-Owl-Bourbour.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" alt=\"Research from scientists at Humboldt State University estimated that a family of Barn Owls killed 3,000 rodents in California vineyards over the course of a single year. Photo by Ryan Bourbour.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n                <figcaption>Research from scientists at Humboldt State University estimated that a family of Barn Owls killed 3,000 rodents in California vineyards over the course of a single year. <em>Photo by Ryan Bourbour.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure>\n            <\/div>\n<h3>Owls and the &#8220;Gift Economy&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p>Barn Owls love nest boxes, too. And around the world, many farmers love Barn Owls as a way to control pests, says Matthew Johnson, professor in the Department of Wildlife at Humboldt State University in northern California.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/BarnOwl-box-Bourbour..jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/BarnOwl-box-Bourbour.-720x688.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/BarnOwl-box-Bourbour.-1280x1223.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/BarnOwl-box-Bourbour.-768x734.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/BarnOwl-box-Bourbour.-480x459.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/BarnOwl-box-Bourbour..jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"In California\u2019s Sonoma Valley, Barn Owl nest boxes are a common sight among the vineyards. Photo by Ryan Bourbour.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>A Barn Owl peeks out of a nest box in California\u2019s Sonoma Valley where boxes are a common sight among the vineyards. <em>Photo by Ryan Bourbour.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure><\/div>\n<p>Johnson says farmers in South America and Africa, and palm growers in Malaysia, attract Barn Owls to con\u00adtrol rats. Israel has a national program for installing Barn Owl nest boxes in farmlands. So Johnson\u2019s interest in Barn Owls was piqued as he drove around California wine country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI kept seeing these Barn Owl nest boxes in vineyards and thought those have got to be up for more than just feeling good. The farmers have put those up in hopes of trying to control rodents,\u201d he says. \u201cBut there hadn\u2019t really been a lot in terms of scientific research on the topic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2015 he and his students began studying the value of Barn Owls in Cali\u00adfornia vineyards, where pocket gophers and voles damage crops at the rate of $26 to $58 per acre. Their research, including video cameras mounted inside nest boxes, show that each chick in a brood consumes on average nearly 200 prey items\u2014mostly gophers, voles, and mice\u2014during the 10 weeks before it fledges from the nest box. Says John\u00adson, \u201cWe estimated 3,000 rodents killed over the course of the year by a single family of Barn Owls.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Beyond documenting the prodigious appetites of Barn Owls, Johnson also found that the owls showed a strong preference for boxes placed near nat\u00adural cover, such as grasslands and oak savanna. That begged another question: Are the owls nesting in the vineyards hunting amid the grape vines, or do they prefer eating rodents in the nearby wild areas? So they tagged some of the owls with GPS tracking devices, which revealed that even with native habitat nearby the owls spent a third of their time hunting in cultivated land.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-list list-style alignright\"><h2 class=\"article-list-header\">More Ways Raptors Help the Landscape<\/h2><ul><li class=\"article-item\"><div class=\"article-item-container\"><div class=\"article-item-media  content-article\"><figure class=\"article-item-media-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/RTHAwk-squirrel-fotosynthesys-FI.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/RTHAwk-squirrel-fotosynthesys-FI-720x405.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/RTHAwk-squirrel-fotosynthesys-FI-240x135.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/RTHAwk-squirrel-fotosynthesys-FI-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/RTHAwk-squirrel-fotosynthesys-FI-480x270.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/RTHAwk-squirrel-fotosynthesys-FI.jpg 1218w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Red-tailed Hawk with ground squirrel in California. Photo by fotosynthesys via BIrdshare.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"article-item-body\"><span class=\"article-item-header\">By Hunting Rodents, Raptors Help With Flood Control<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<p>Johnson\u2019s advice to vineyard owners for maximizing the opportunities for getting Barn Owls in nest boxes: Leave some wild habitat near the areas where owl boxes are posted, which he says creates \u201can incentive for the farmers to conserve those uncultivated habitats\u2014the riparian areas, the oak woodlands, and so on [that have] strong conserva\u00adtion benefits for all sorts of species, not just the Barn Owls.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Says Johnson, \u201cI\u2019m interested in two sides of the same coin. How can farms be good for wildlife? And on the flip side, how can some of those birds or wildlife be good for the farmers?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ecologists tend to use the term \u201ceco\u00adsystem services\u201d to describe nature\u2019s benefits to humans, but Johnson uses a different term.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think a better way to describe it is more like a gift economy,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is something we\u2019ve learned from indigenous cultures. That is, if people do things for wildlife, wildlife will do things for people.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Wild Falcons Welcomed Back to Vineyards Down Under<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/NZFalcon-mikullashbee.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/NZFalcon-mikullashbee-720x976.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/NZFalcon-mikullashbee-768x1041.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/NZFalcon-mikullashbee-480x650.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/NZFalcon-mikullashbee.jpg 1107w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"New Zealand Falcon preys on an invasive House Sparrow. Photo by mikullashbee via Birdshare.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>New Zealand Falcon preys on an invasive House Sparrow. <em>Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/GiDgc5\">mikullashbee<\/a> via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/groups\/birdshare\/\">Birdshare<\/a>.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure><\/div>\n<p>In New Zealand, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mfct.org.nz\/\">Marlborough Falcon Trust<\/a> is reintroducing an en\u00addangered raptor while helping grape growers protect their crops.<\/p>\n<p>The New Zealand Falcon\u2014midsize between a Merlin and a peregrine\u2014is brutally pugnacious, attacking people and even trucks and helicopters that approach too close to a nest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey will make contact with you every time if you\u2019re near their nest and go round and round and round screeching at you,\u201d says Sara Kross, who studied the birds in 2007 for her PhD. Now she\u2019s director of the master\u2019s program in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology at Columbia University in New York. But she still recalls her days wearing a padded leather Australian-style bush hat for head protection from the New Zealand Falcon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt definitely draws blood. I got whacked a lot,\u201d she says, \u201cas much as I would explain to them that I was just there to help them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So why would anyone want to help such a bird? It\u2019s an iconic species, New Zealand\u2019s only remaining endemic bird of prey, and it has fallen on hard times. Like other ground-nesting species on recently colonized islands, the falcon had no experience with the rats, cats, weasels, and other predators that tagged along with European settlers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s just a recipe for disaster for them as all these mammalian pred\u00adators came into New Zealand,\u201d says Kross. \u201cThey were sitting falcons is what they were.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They were also being electrocuted by old-fashioned uninsulated transformer boxes on power lines. Once found from the mountains to the sea, the New Zealand Falcon persisted only in the high country.<\/p>\n<p>Conservationists saw the opportu\u00adnity for a twofer: introducing an endan\u00adgered species to lowland habitat while helping to control an agricultural pest. Falcon reintroductions kicked off at the northern tip of the South Island in the Marlborough region, where sauvignon blanc and pinot noir grapes grow.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s sort of the center of the wine industry there,\u201d says Kross.<\/p>\n<p>Initially four falcons were released to \u201chack boxes\u201d that protected the nest from ground predators. Additional birds were released each year, and eventually the falcons began to breed. About a third survived and established territories. Another third died, often by electrocution. And some vanished, perhaps into the high country.<\/p>\n<p>Kross began her research after the reintroduction was underway to deter\u00admine how falcons were faring and how they fit into the vineyard landscape. Some growers were reluctant at first to host falcons, says Kross. But it turned out to be a good deal.<\/p>\n<p>According to Kross\u2019s research, <a href=\"https:\/\/conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1111\/j.1523-1739.2011.01756.x\">pub\u00adlished in <em>Conservation Biology <\/em>in 2012<\/a>, the presence of falcons in a vineyard was associated with a 95% reduction in the number of grapes removed by birds and a 55% reduction in the number of grapes pecked. She estimated the falcons saved farmers up to US$326 per hectare ($132 per acre).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe birds that are [raiding] the vine\u00adyards are almost all introduced species that have exploded in numbers,\u201d she says. Reintroducing a predator as fierce as the New Zealand Falcon \u201cchanged the behavior of these birds that had become kind of gluttonous and brazen in their behavior in the vineyards,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a concept in ecology called the \u2018landscape of fear.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Falcons benefited as well. Compared with wild falcons in nearby unculti\u00advated areas, the vineyard falcons ate more and raised more chicks.<\/p>\n<p>The reintroduction has also paid some benefits to wine-country tourists. Winemaker Brancott Estate offers wine tastings with a flying demonstration by a captive falcon (not guarding a nest, thank goodness) and Q&amp;A with a falcon handler.<\/p>\n<p>Kross describes the reintroduction as a win-win\u2014helping endangered falcons, helping beleaguered farmers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey put a lot of effort in trying to scare those birds away from their vineyards,\u201d she says. \u201cThe falcons are essentially replicating that effort, and they\u2019re being way more successful.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignfull size-large dark\">\n                  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/WBluebird-Welling.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\">\n                  <figcaption>Research in California wine country showed bluebirds and other birds ate twice as many insect larvae on vineyards with nest boxes than on vineyards without boxes. <em>Western Bluebird by Dave Welling<\/em>.<\/figcaption>\n                <\/figure>\n<h3>Natural Pest Control Has Wings<\/h3>\n<p>Raptors aren&#8217;t the only birds that help farmers. Also valuable are songbirds that patrol crops for insect pests.<\/p>\n<p>Indonesian cacao plantations have documented increased yields of 290 pounds per acre of the valuable pods used in making chocolate\u2014nearly $300 per acre\u2014from having birds (and bats) in their fields. European apple growers have used nest boxes to attract Great Tits and reduce caterpillar damage by 50% compared to farms without nest boxes.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group legacy-sidebar sidebar-alignright has-lightgray-background-color has-background\">\n<h4>Like chocolate?<br \/>\nThank bats and birds<\/h4>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n              <figure class=\"size-medium alignleft\">\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mspasma-pdunn3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mspasma-pdunn3-720x986.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mspasma-pdunn3-720x986.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mspasma-pdunn3-768x1052.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mspasma-pdunn3-480x658.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Mspasma-pdunn3.jpg 1095w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" alt=\"The False Vampire Bat (Megaderma spasma) is one of several insect eating bat species in Indonesia. Photo by pdunn3\/Creative Commons.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n                <figcaption>False vampire bat (<em>Megaderma spasma<\/em>) by <a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/PLAykA\">pdunn3\/Creative Commons<\/a>.<\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure>\n            <\/div>\n<p>One study in Sulawesi, Indonesia, found that crop yield from cacao trees fell by 31% when insect-eating bats and birds were excluded from the area.<\/p>\n<p>The false vampire bat, also known as a common Asian ghost bat, is one of many insect-eating bat species in Indonesia that helps with pest control. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.merlintuttle.org\/2018\/06\/13\/bats-and-chocolate-production\/\">Read more<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Birds are also known to eat the coffee berry borer, the world\u2019s most damaging insect coffee pest. In Jamaica, Matt Johnson\u2014the Humboldt State biology professor\u2014has studied coffee plantations from the Blue Mountains in the east to Montego Bay in the west. He excluded birds from coffee bushes in certain areas of the plantation while allowing Black-throated Blue Warblers, Prairie Warblers, American Redstarts, Northern Parulas, and Black-and-white Warblers free rein in others. Then he compared borer damage in exclusion zones to damage elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re all eating this pest. Farmers can attract those types of birds to her or his farm by having shade trees that grow up above the coffee bushes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>The trees harbor other beneficial creatures as well, such as lizards, and sequester carbon to blunt climate change. By attracting birds, farmers save an estimated $126 per acre annu\u00adally, according to Johnson\u2019s research.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe list of benefits from having more trees on farms is long,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>In the United States, bluebirds play a big role in eating pests because they are so easily lured to a nesting box.<\/p>\n<p>To estimate how many insect pests bluebirds and other insect-eating song\u00adbirds ate, Julie Jedlicka\u2014an associate professor of biology at Missouri West\u00adern State University\u2014set up an exper\u00adiment with so-called sentinel prey. She immobilized live beet armyworms and placed them around California vine\u00adyards, some with bluebird nest boxes and some without. By recording the number of armyworms that the birds ate, she could estimate the effectiveness of bluebirds as predators of many kinds of insect larvae.<\/p>\n<p>She discovered that nest boxes qua\u00addrupled the number of insectivorous birds; Western Bluebirds alone increased tenfold. In vineyards with nest boxes, the birds ate 2.4 times more of the sentinel prey than in areas without boxes.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/JulieJohnsonTresSabores-Iverson.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/JulieJohnsonTresSabores-Iverson-720x480.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/JulieJohnsonTresSabores-Iverson-1280x853.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/JulieJohnsonTresSabores-Iverson-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/JulieJohnsonTresSabores-Iverson-480x320.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/JulieJohnsonTresSabores-Iverson.jpg 1391w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Tres Sabores vineyard owner Julie Johnson maintaining two-thirds of her land in natural and semi-native cover. Photo by Kaare Iverson.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>Tres Sabores vineyard owner Julie Johnson maintaining two-thirds of her land in natural and semi-native cover. <em>Photo by Kaare Iverson.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure><\/div>\n<p>A similar sentinel prey experiment showed the value of birds in California walnut groves. The Central Valley produces 99% of walnuts exported from the United States, \u201cso it\u2019s a really big deal for that localized economy,\u201d says Sacha Heath, now a biodiversity postdoctoral fellow at the Living Earth Collaborative.<\/p>\n<p>Heath\u2019s experiments with setting out codling moth larvae at orchards in the Sacramento Valley showed again that birds excel at pest control. Nuttall\u2019s Woodpeckers and White-breasted Nuthatches flicked off flakes of bark to get at the moth cocoons. Sapsuckers, Bushtits, Bewick\u2019s Wrens, and Northern Flickers also found the pupae. Birds ate four times as many larvae as spiders and insects. Notably, the songbirds were far more effective in orchards with a lot of natural habitat within 500 meters.<\/p>\n<p>Julie Johnson has taken the impor\u00adtance of natural habitat to heart. Johnson owns Tres Sabores, an organic vineyard and winery in the Napa Valley. But she grows grapes on only a third of her 35 acres. The rest is covered in native and semi-natural cover\u2014sec\u00adond-growth redwoods, bay, fir, pine, and various species of oak. A seasonal stream feeds a small pond.<\/p>\n<p>Planted hedgerows contain native buckwheat, sages, rosemary, Mexican sunflowers, asters, cosmos, and other flowering plants. The hedgerows harbor many species of songbirds. About 150 pomegranate trees attract bees and hummingbirds.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson has also set out 50 bluebird boxes, two Barn Owl nesting boxes, a kestrel box, and other shelters for swal\u00adlows and even bats. In addition to the many bluebirds and other box-dwellers, her vineyard has a resident Red-tailed Hawk. She has documented at least three species of native owls on the vineyard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m trying to provide a very hospita\u00adble, welcoming environment,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/TresSabores-blubirdhouse-Iverson.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/TresSabores-blubirdhouse-Iverson-720x1080.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/TresSabores-blubirdhouse-Iverson-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/TresSabores-blubirdhouse-Iverson-480x720.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/TresSabores-blubirdhouse-Iverson.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"At Tres Sabores vineyard Johnson has pursued a long-term resilience strategy on her farm by installing over 50 nest boxes for bluebirds and owls. Photo by Kaare Iverson.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>At Tres Sabores vineyard Johnson has pursued a long-term resilience strategy on her farm by installing over 50 nest boxes for bluebirds and owls. <em>Photo by Kaare Iverson.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure><\/div>\n<p>Rather than worry about which predators control which pests, John\u00adson simply put out the welcome mat with faith that the multitudes will work things out and prevent any one destructive species from taking over. By fostering diversity of plants and animals\u2014especially birds\u2014her vineyard is \u201cself-regulated,\u201d she says. \u201cYou\u2019re not losing vines to Pierce\u2019s disease. You\u2019re not losing vines to other diseases because there\u2019s diversity in the ecology of the farm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson says her goal is \u201clong-term resilience\u201d\u2014both of her vineyard and also of the surrounding natural environment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t apologize for being in agri\u00adculture, but I can do the best that I can to emulate nature and to respect nature in what I do,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson has encouraged research in her vineyard (by Humboldt State\u2019s Matt Johnson, among others), and she is working with Wild Farm Alliance to promote the use of nest boxes and natural habitat on farms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur mission is to promote healthy, viable agriculture that protects and restores wild nature,\u201d says Jo Ann Baumgartner, executive director of Wild Farm Alliance. \u201cBirds are just such a great example because of the benefits they provide.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Baumgartner says the alliance has a vision of establishing a Songbird Farm Trail up the Pacific Coast: \u201cOur goal is a million boxes from Baja to British Columbia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But nest boxes are only the first step. Restoring natural habitat, even just a few acres, to farms and other working land\u00adscapes is the best way to attract a range of beneficial species, says Baumgartner. While raptors and songbirds eat the pests, hummingbirds and bumblebees act as pollinators. At the same time, natural habitat sequesters carbon and soaks up runoff to keep groundwater, streams, and lakes cleaner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe really want to help growers understand how they can do more by putting in vegetative habitat,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a plan for working with nature instead of against it that will benefit farmers and society as a whole\u2014giving a gift, and getting a gift in return.<\/p>\n<p><em>Freelance writer Greg Breining is a frequent contributor to <\/em>Living Bird<em>. He writes about wildlife, the environment, health, and science.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Studies ranging from orchards in Michigan to vineyards in California and New Zealand show that birds including American Kestrels, Barn Owls, and Western Bluebirds are better than chemicals at reducing pest damage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_birdpress_living_bird_toc":0,"_birdpress_living_bird_toc_title":"","_birdpress_featured_image":false,"_birdpress_hero_toggle":false,"_birdpress_hero_type":"image","_birdpress_hero_image_type":"image","_birdpress_hero_style":"default","_birdpress_hero_ratio":"","_birdpress_hero_h1":"","_birdpress_hero_media_id":0,"_birdpress_hero_media_array_id":[],"_birdpress_hero_media_array":[],"_birdpress_hero_media":0,"_birdpress_hero_video_id":0,"_birdpress_hero_video":0,"_birdpress_hero_youtube":"","_birdpress_hero_content":true,"_birdpress_hero_byline":"","_birdpress_hero_byline_bottom":"","_birdpress_hero_button_link":"","_birdpress_hero_button_text":"","_birdpress_hero_button_color":"","_birdpress_hero_date":false,"original_guid":"","_birdpress_hide_search":false,"_birdpress_page_width":"","_birdpress_global_cta":false,"_birdpress_widget_sidebar":"","_birdpress_next_article":48152,"_birdpress_next_article_title":"Birds Need Clean Air Safeguards Just as Much as We Do. 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