Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference

Investigations from 1969 through 1971 of bird damage to peanuts in south-central Oklahoma have shown that losses are caused mainly by common grackles (Quiscalus quiscula). These losses, as high as $36 per acre, have been reduced primarily through the use of exploders and early harvesting of the crop. A fright-producing chemical, 4-aminopyridine, was also effective in scaring grackles from windrowed peanut fields. Banding has shown that many of these grackles breed in western Nebraska and Kansas and winter in northeastern Texas.