Skip to content

Birds for Pest Removal

A research study examines the benefits that birds can bring to farms

Birds are commonly seen as a nuisance on farms. They can cause damage to farms by feasting on crops and seeds but they can also help farmers. Two researchers spent this past summer working on a 3-week pilot study examining the potential benefits that birds can bring to farms. Previous studies at the Farm Hub found that birds have been beneficial for pest control in crop fields along forest edges and as much as 50 meters into the field. Can the benefits be extended even further to a distance twice as far?

As part of the project, Peter Lichtenthal and project assistant Paul Richardson installed artificial perches in three wheat fields that measure 100 x 100 meters, “to see if we can extend pest predation services further into the fields.” The perches, constructed of PVC pipes and fence posts, were intentionally made of materials that are inexpensive and easily accessible to farmers.

Wheat fields were chosen because of their proximity to the forest edges. In addition, wheat fields were also chosen as they were no-till throughout the summer, ensuring that minimal altercations or interferences from farm vehicles would occur within the experiment’s timeframe.

Left, Peter Lichtenthal and Paul Richardson at the Farm Hub.

Lichtenthal works under Sara Kross a conservation biologist and lecturer at Columbia University who has been a member of the Farm Hub’s Applied Farmscape Ecology Research Collaborative. This project is the focus of Lichtenthal’s master’s thesis and Kross is his advisor.

“Artificial perches will serve to augment natural habitats deeper into the crop rows, potentially extending the predation services provided by birds beyond their typical range,” he explains. Each sentinel prey station contained five mealworms to further attract the birds.

He continued: “At the end of each day we counted the remaining worms to measure the proportion removed. The stations allowed us to understand spatial foraging patterns and will inform me if those patterns change with the addition of perches on certain days.”

Camera traps facing the perches were installed to see which birds were using them. The footage included Red-winged Blackbirds followed by Savannah Sparrows, Eastern Kingbirds, and Song Sparrows.

Graphic courtesy of Peter Lichtenthal.

While the study was a pilot and it is too early to make conclusions, Lichtenthal says his hope is that “it will inform farmers who don’t practice a lot of conservation agriculture to maybe sort of dip their toes into it,” says Lichtenthal. “Ultimately, I’d love to see more agroforestry practices being done in the U.S. I think they have a lot of benefits for both biodiversity and also for climate change.”

-Amy Wu

Sign up for our newsletter and event updates.