A questionnaire survey of bird damage to fruit

Abstract

Replies by New Zealand fruitgrowers to a questionnaire suggested that the most troublesome bird species in their crops were blackbird (Turdus merula), song thrush (Turdus ericetorum), myna (Acridotheres tristis), starling (Sturnus Vulgaris), white-eye (Zosterops lateralis), and house sparrow (Passer domesticus); and that the most serious damage was to strawberries, grapes, cherries, pears, and apples. Goldfinches (Carduelis carduelis) and redpolls (Carduelis flammea) ate strawberry seeds, and redpolls, sparrows, chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs), and greenfinches (Chloris chloris) attacked fruit buds. Current control methods and their claimed effectiveness are tabulated. © 1970 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.