March 1998, Volume 19 No. 1
- Editorial
- General News
- Biorational
- Company News
- Internet Round-Up
- Announcements
- Conference Reports
- Proceedings
- Forthcoming Meetings
By: Peter McEwen, Insect Investigations Ltd, School of Pure & Applied Biology, University of Wales, Cardiff, PO Box 915, Cardiff, CF1 3TL, UK
E-mail:
In view of the Welsh Pest Management Forum (WPMF) conference on urban bird pest management (4-6 February 1998), I am dedicating this month's Round-up to Internet sites dealing with bird pest control. Birds eat crops, damage property, and leave deposits of droppings and nesting material. In addition they can cause serious problems to aircraft [see: http://airsafe.com/birds/top_ten.htm] and, in some cases, may spread disease.
A good starting point is the Database of IPM Resources (DIR) at: http://www.ippc.orst.edu/cicp/Pests/birds.htm which provides a list of links to relevant sites. One of these links leads to information on pest birds at: http://www.birdbarrier.com/facts/index.html
Following the link from this site to crows (Corvus spp.) provides you with information on two crow species with a photograph, description, habits, behaviour, and tips on control. Similar information is also given on gulls, pigeons, sparrows, starlings and swallows.
The DIR resource also links to a history of bird pest control at: http://www.birdbarrier.com/problems/history.html
bird control ideas at: http://www.national-britannia.co.uk/page2.htm#Bird
and bird control in the vegetable garden at: http://www.acenet.auburn.edu/department/ipm/mammal.htm
Beyond the DIR resource I was unable to find a real Internet focus for this subject area and the DIR resource itself, in my opinion, would benefit greatly from a major expansion. There is nevertheless a lot of information on bird control on the Internet and I will mention a few of the other scattered sites that I came across in my searches. These generally deal with sites pushing bird control products. I am not a bird control expert, and mention of these sites is not intended to endorse the products. A list of bird control companies is given at: http://www.home.yournewhouse.com/directory/ps23-3.htm
and there is the facility to add your own company details if you are not already represented here.
As an example of a commercial site, the Ecopic site at: http://www.ecopic.com/ecobird.html
demonstrates stainless steel rods that are erected on a windowsill, for example, and thus deter pigeons or gulls from landing. There is also information on a predator balloon which is flown to frighten birds away, and a product called `irritape' which is `Iridescent diffraction foil that dramatically affects bird's vision, hearing and orientation'.
The `Nixalite' homepage at http://www.nixalite.com also offers a bird deterrent product based on a physical barrier. Nixalite is a stainless steel needle strip comprising an array of sharp points acting as a barrier to birds trying to land.
I was unable to find any information specifically on the biological control of birds but some information on the biological control impact of birds was forthcoming at http://www.ent.msu.edu/esal/orchard/ which provides an "evaluation of domestic birds as biological control agents in a non-chemical agroecosystem". The site reports that introducing domestic birds (geese and chickens) into an apple orchard integrated pest management system has led to a number of benefits including `weed control, reduced insect pests, addition of nutrients and production of food in the form of eggs and meat'. This is an interesting site dealing with a novel IPM system and I would recommend it to the reader.
As usual, a trawl of the net such as that outlined above gives prominence to some sites and totally misses others. Undoubtedly there are many excellent sites that I have failed to mention and the usual apologies apply. To reiterate, a cursory examination of bird pest control on the Internet indicates that there is lots of information out there. So far no-one seems to have provided the definitive bird pest focus on the net but hopefully we can expect something to emerge in the near future.
Dr McEwen is Treasurer of the Welsh Pest Management Forum.