Journal
WILDLIFE RESEARCH
Volume 44, Issue 4, Pages 334-342Publisher
CSIRO PUBLISHING
DOI: 10.1071/WR17028
Keywords
-
Funding
- Australian Research Council [DP140100709]
- Australian Wildlife Society University Student Grant
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Context. Birds active in vineyards in south-eastern Australia can reduce or enhance crop yields via their foraging activities (e.g. by consuming grapes or by preying on grape-eating species). Aims. We examined the effectiveness of artificial perches in encouraging predatory birds into vineyards to scare frugivorous birds and consequently reduce the damage they cause to grapes. Methods. We monitored 12 artificial perches for 4 months during the growing season, spread over six vineyards in north-eastern Victoria, and compared bird damage to grapes at these sites with control sites without perches. Key results. We found that raptors did not use the artificial perches. However, the large and aggressive Australian magpie (Cracticus tibicen) commonly used perches and we recorded 38 513 perch visits by this species. Grapevines around perch sites suffered >50% less grape damage (4.13% damage per bunch) than control sites (8.57% damage per bunch). Conclusions. Our results suggest that providing artificial perches in vineyards can play a role in reducing frugivore damage to grapes. However, the effectiveness of perches can vary under different environmental conditions and certain perch types are not suitable for all predatory or aggressive birds.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available