Blackbird Repellency of Selected Registered Pesticides (original) (raw)
Registered Pesticides and Citrus Terpenes as Blackbird Repellents for Rice
Journal of Wildlife Management, 2008
Nonlethal management alternatives are needed to minimize bird depredation of agricultural crops. We conducted 8 caged feeding tests and 2 field studies to evaluate 2 registered fungicides (GWN-4770, Gowan Company, Yuma, AZ; Quadris t , Syngenta Crop Protection, Greensboro, NC), a neem oil insecticide (Aza-Direct t , Gowan Company), and a novel terpene formulation (Gander Gone, Natural Earth Products, Winter Springs, FL) as avian repellents. For all candidate repellents, red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) discriminated between untreated and treated rice during preference-testing in captivity. We observed a positive concentration-response relationship among birds offered rice treated with 2,500 ppm, 5,000 ppm, 7,500 ppm, 11,000 ppm, or 22,000 ppm GWN-4770. Relative to pretreatment, blackbirds consumed 34% and 77% less rice treated with 11,000 ppm and 22,000 ppm GWN-4770, respectively, during the concentrationresponse test. Maximum repellency among other tested compounds was ,40% during the concentration-response test. Blackbirds consumed 28% of rice seeds treated with 20,000 ppm GWN-4770 and 68% of untreated seeds broadcast within rice fields in southwestern Louisiana, USA. We observed 50% fewer unprotected seedlings than those treated with 10,000 ppm GWN-4770 within a drill-seeded rice field in southeastern Missouri, USA. The manufacturer subsequently applied for a United States patent for the active ingredient of GWN-4770 as an avian repellent. Although additional registration criteria and formulation optimization must be satisfied to enable the commercial availability of GWN-4770 as an avian repellent, additional efficacy studies of GWN-4770 and other promising repellents under extended field conditions are warranted for protection of newly planted and ripening rice.
Laboratory Efficacy of Chemical Repellents for Reducing Blackbird Damage in Rice and Sunflower Crops
Journal of Wildlife Management, 2010
Nonlethal alternatives are needed to manage blackbird (Icterids) damage to rice and sunflower production in the United States. We evaluated 4 registered fungicides on rice seeds (i.e., AllegianceH FL, Thiram 42-S, TrilexH, and VitavaxH 200 preplant seed treatments) and 2 foliar pesticides on sunflower seeds (Cobalt TM insecticide and Flock Buster bird repellent) as candidate blackbird repellents. Red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) preferred untreated rice relative to rice treated with Thiram (P , 0.001) and Vitavax (P , 0.001), and untreated sunflower relative to sunflower treated with Cobalt (P , 0.001). Blackbirds preferred untreated sunflower relative to sunflower treated with Flock Buster repellent on day 1 of a 4-day preference test (P , 0.001). We observed no difference in consumption of treated versus untreated rice during the Allegiance preference test (P 5 0.928), and blackbirds preferred rice treated with Trilex relative to untreated rice (P 5 0.003). Although repellency was positively related to tested concentrations of Thiram (P 5 0.010), Trilex (P 5 0.026), and Vitavax (P , 0.001), maximum repellency was ,50% during our concentration-response tests of these seed treatments. Repellency was also positively related to tested concentrations of Cobalt (P , 0.001), and we observed .80% repellency of sunflower treated with Cobalt at L 50% of the label rate. We observed no concentration-response relationship for the Allegiance seed treatment (P 5 0.341) and Flock Buster repellent (P 5 0.952). We recommend implementation of supplemental field studies to compare laboratory efficacy, repellency, and chemical residues of effective avian repellents throughout periods of needed crop protection.
Responses of blackbirds to mature wild rice treated with Flight Control bird repellent
Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference, 2000
Red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) and other granivorous species cause substantial economic damage to wild rice in California. Currently available damage control techniques have only limited effectiveness and there is considerable need for new effective techniques. We conducted a field trial in northern California to determine the effectiveness of the bird repellent, Flight Control 1 M (50% anthraquinone), applied at rates of 18.6 and 55.8 Uha, in reducing blackbird depredations to wild rice. We detected no effect of the treatments on blackbird behavior in the field, even though captive red-winged blackbirds were deterred in feeding trials with wild rice seeds collected from our study plot. We suggest several possible reasons for this: 1) blackbirds used wild rice for cover as well as a food source; 2) birds perhaps received insufficient exposure to the repellent owing to either the birds' ability to hull the seeds rapidly, low anthraquinone residues on the seeds, and/or non-unifonn coverage of seed heads; 3) although Flight Control™ is a feeding.deterrent, an aversive response might require repeated exposure to treated rice; and 4) frequent turnover in the depredating population would result in birds not being present long enough to acquire an avoidance response. Clearly, a better understanding of blackbird movements and behavior in wild rice is needed to develop an effective management strategy.
Evaluation of Bird Shield™ as a blackbird repellent in ripening rice and sunflower fields
Wildlife Society Bulletin, 2005
Several blackbird (Icteridae) species are abundant summer residents and migrants in central and southern regions of North America , including red-winged blackbirds BIRD SHIELD™ IN RICE AND SUNFLOWER FIELDS 251 W Wi il ld dl li if fe e D Da am ma ag ge e a an nd d M Ma an na ag ge em me en nt t Wildlife Society Bulletin 2005, 33(1):251-257 Peer refereed Abstract Chemical repellents sometimes can provide a nonlethal alternative for reducing wildlife impacts to agricultural production. In late summer and autumn 2002, we evaluated Bird Shield™ (active ingredient: methyl anthranilate, Bird Shield Repellent Corporation, Spokane, Wash.
Effectiveness of AV-1011® to reduce damage to drill-planted rice from blackbirds
The Journal of Wildlife Management, 2011
We determined efficacy of AV-1011 1 (a 50% anthraquinone product; Arkion 1 Life Sciences, New Castle, Delaware) on drill-planted rice seed to reduce blackbird damage and determine residue levels of anthraquinone (AQ) in rice seeds and seedlings and in the mature rice crop under field enclosures at the University of Missouri-Delta Center farm near Portageville, Missouri. Red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) damage was higher for untreated than AV-1011 1 treated rice seedlings at assessment period 3, 15 days postplanting (F 1,141 ¼ 15.81, P < 0.001), and at assessment period 4, 19 days postplanting (F 1,136 ¼ 11.54, P ¼ 0.001). Blackbird damage to AV-1011-treated seedling for assessment periods 3 and 4 was 8% and 7%, respectively, while blackbird damage to untreated seedlings during the same assessment periods was 52% and 44%. More blackbirds used untreated plots than AV-1011-treated plots during assessment periods 2-4 (F 1,17.8 ¼ 20.02, P < 0.001). Overall concentrations of AQ on seeds averaged 5,993 mg/g or 0.59% during the test period. Concentrations of AQ in mature rice seed and plant collected at harvest averaged 1.22 mg/g and 0.10 mg/g, respectively. AV-1011 offers promise for reducing bird depredations to newly planted rice, but additional testing should be conducted to evaluate this repellent in a large-scale field setting. ß 2011 The Wildlife Society.
Evaluation and Development of Blackbird Repellents for Agricultural Applications
2009
We evaluated several registered fungicides and insecticides, and several natural compounds as candidate blackbird repellents for protecting agricultural production. We tested more than 750 red-winged blackbirds at the National Wildlife Research Center’s outdoor animal research facility in Fort Collins, CO to evaluate (1) their preference for treated versus untreated rice and sunflower seeds and (2) their consumption of seeds treated
Crop Protection, 2000
Anthraquinone is a promising candidate as a repellent to protect newly planted rice from blackbird depredation. Current technology for applying chemicals to rice seed prior to planting might be incompatible with the relatively large volume of bird repellent material needed on rice seeds. Therefore, an alternate method of application, overspraying the "eld after the seed is planted, could prove more e$cient and practical. We examined this approach in pen and "eld trials. In group pen tests, red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) consistently avoided Flight Control (50% anthraquinone) applications equivalent to 23.3 and 37.2 l/ha, but were not deterred by 9.3 l/ha. Several test birds vomited after they fed on treated seeds. In a 0.2 ha #ight pen, blackbird #ocks removed 58% of rice seed from untreated plots compared to 6% taken from plots sprayed with Flight Control at a rate of 18.6 l/ha. In southwestern Louisiana, plots of newly planted rice were sprayed with Flight Control at either 9.3 or 18.6 l/ha. We did not observe blackbird repellency at any of the treated sites. Anthraquinone residues on rice from the test plots indicated that there was insu$cient repellent on the seeds in the "elds to deter depredating blackbirds. For overspraying to be practical and e!ective, methods must be devised to deliver the chemical more e$ciently to the planted seeds. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.