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field day

Bird Control Takes Center Stage

Bird control took center stage at the 2016 Blueberry Field Day, held July 6 at Oregon State University’s North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora.

The topic started with a presentation by Rick Willis of Bird Gard, a system that utilizes a bird’s natural survival instinct to repel them from blueberry plants.

Falconer Kort Clayton, with Cooper, stole the show at this past summer's Blueberry Field Day at Oregon State University's North Willamette Research and Extension Center. The presentation was one of three options for bird control presented at the field day.

The system works by broadcasting digital recordings of distressed bird calls and sounds of natural predators through weather-resistant speakers. The distress calls trigger a flight response in birds, causing them to relocate to where they can feed without feeling threatened, Willis said.

The system involves considerable upfront costs, with each unit costing $3,500, or between $100 and $200 per acre, but, Willis said, the system can more than pay for itself in increased yields.

“Some of you growers with habitual bird loss, if you don’t do anything, you’re going to lose thirty, forty, fifty percent of your crop,” he said.

At one test site in Oregon, Willis said, blueberry yields went up fifty percent after installing the system

Units are powered by batteries, which are kept recharged by solar panels.

Next up was Marc Gaffrey of Bird Control U.S., which uses a laser system to keep birds out of blueberry fields.

The system, which can be mounted on a swiveling tripod and placed in a field, shoots laser beams over the top of blueberry plants. Beams are hard to see with the human eye, and do not affect birds, but birds perceive them as threats, Gaffrey said.

A system costs approximately $8,000, with a per-acre cost estimated at $200, he said. Systems are designed to operate eight to ten years, or for 10,000 hours. It costs $1,250 to replace the laser system. Systems have a solar panel option, or can run on power cords.

Kort Clayton of Integrated Avian Solutions culminated the agenda item with a presentation on falconry.

Clayton said advantages of going with falconry to minimize yield loss to birds include that it is quiet, natural and the most sustainable system.

Typically, the system involves having one falconer on hand with a team of birds. It is best suited to large operations, he said.

Falcons rarely catch a bird, but their presence deters birds from entering a blueberry field, he said.

“Most of our clients tell us it is basically ninety-nine percent effective,” Clayton said.

A typical cost for a season of bird control from Avian Solutions is $20,000 to $30,000, he said, adding, “But when you are losing $60,000 to $70,000 in bird damage, it gets pretty effective, pretty quickly.”

OSU Berry Crops Professor and Research Program Leader Bernadine Strik said one key to effective bird control is to install bird abatement systems before berries turn color.

“Once the birds get a taste, it is impossible to get them out,” she said.

 

 

 


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