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Responses of blackbirds to mature wild rice treated with Flight Control bird repellent
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https://doi.org/10.5070/V419110269Abstract
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™ (50% anthraquinone), applied at rates of 18.6 and 55.8 L/ha, 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-uniform 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.
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