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In order to potentially reduce use of environmentally damaging rodenticides, integrated Pest Management (IPM) for rodents, or Ecologically Based Rodent Management (EBRM), proposes a more sustainable management approach using strategies informed by an increased understanding of rodent population and community ecology, including interactions with important predators, such as raptors. Nest boxes and perches can encourage raptor presence in agricultural areas and potentially enhance the regulatory ecosystem services provided by raptor predation of agricultural pests. To assess this idea, we studied American kestrels (widespread, generalist predators that readily use nest boxes) in a fruit-growing region of northwestern Michigan. The most common mammal prey in the diets of these kestrels from 2013 through 2016 were voles, which are considered the most important rodent pests in temperate fruit orchards. We utilized live trapping to measure small mammal abundances and activity during the summer at sites with and without active kestrel nest boxes; furthermore, we utilized camera trapping to measure small mammal presence during the winter, when damage to trees is most likely. As predicted, small mammal abundance and activity was lower at orchards with active kestrel boxes and at orchards that had been more recently mowed; however, these differences did not carry over as differences in winter presence in orchards. Our sampling demonstrated that voles were absent from orchards during both summer and winter, which suggests that orchards offer insufficient cover except under certain conditions, such as sustained snow cover. Instead, mice were the most abundant small mammals in most orchards during the summer and were also present during the winter. More evidence is therefore needed to determine the extent of orchard damage attributable to Peromyscus spp. and whether indirect effects of kestrels on Peromyscus spp. may reduce damage. We provide recommendations for future research on the effects of raptor predation in orchards.

Understanding distribution patterns and multitrophic interactions is critical for managing bat- and bird-mediated ecosystem services such as the suppression of pest and non-pest arthropods. Despite the ecological and economic importance of bats and birds in tropical forests, agroforestry systems, and agricultural systems mixed with natural forest, a systematic review of their impact is still missing. A growing number of bird and bat exclosure experiments has improved our knowledge allowing new conclusions regarding their roles in food webs and associated ecosystem services. Here, we review the distribution patterns of insectivorous birds and bats, their local and landscape drivers, and their effects on trophic cascades in tropical ecosystems. We report that for birds but not bats community composition and relative importance of functional groups changes conspicuously from forests to habitats including both agricultural areas and forests, here termed 'forest-agri' habitats, with reduced representation of insectivores in the latter. In contrast to previous theory regarding trophic cascade strength, we find that birds and bats reduce the density and biomass of arthropods in the tropics with effect sizes similar to those in temperate and boreal communities. The relative importance of birds versus bats in regulating pest abundances varies with season, geography and management. Birds and bats may even suppress tropical arthropod outbreaks, although positive effects on plant growth are not always reported. As both bats and birds are major agents of pest suppression, a better understanding of the local and landscape factors driving the variability of their impact is needed.

Economic impacts, risk factors, and deterrent strategies related to fruit damage by birds were investigated in a four year study across North America. Here we focus primarily on bird management strategies tested in the Pacific Northwest, including visual deterrents such as hawk-kites, inflatable tube-men, and falconry. Fields protected by professional bird-abatement falconry showed less blueberry damage than non-falconry fields. Neither hawk kites nor kite-falconry combinations showed strong damage prevention. A pilot trial of inflatable tube-men in blueberries showed a potential deterrent effect in one of three blocks. Bird management strategies that are biodiversity-friendly, such as falconry and predator nest boxes, may also be useful in marketing fruit.

Fruit producers have identified bird damage as a critical issue that has received limited attention from researchers. A USDA study estimated that birds cost producers in seven states tens of millions of dollars through fruit loss and management efforts. Despite these costs, research has been uncoordinated and piecemeal, leaving producers with few, well-tested management options. We describe several objectives to strive for in order to achieve the goal of providing producers with region-specific, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable bird management strategies. These objectives include 1) quantifying economic consequences of bird damage for producers, consumers, and regional economies, and determining costs and benefits of various management techniques; 2) identifying amounts of damage attributable to specific bird species across crops and regions; 3) determining how bird damage varies within and across spatial scales (orchard, landscape, region); 4) evaluating consumer responses to management strategies and potential effects on marketing; 5) integrating economic, biological, and consumer information, i.e. using a systems approach, to determine the management strategies that should be tested; and 6) testing management strategies for efficacy with replicated, well-controlled experimental designs. By focusing on these objectives and coordinating activities among researchers and extension personnel from different regions of the country and from different disciplines, we will maximize efficiency in addressing this issue on a national scale while providing individual producers with region-specific information to guide their bird management efforts. Communication among researchers, extension personnel, and producers will be critical to minimize the costs of bird damage.

Private land management is an essential component of bird conservation. How private landowners manage their farms, rangelands, forests, and yards, influences the resources and hazards birds encounter, with associated impacts on bird abundance. We describe 6 principles, based on recent research, that conservation practitioners should incorporate into their bird conservation efforts with landowners: (1) use social and natural science and stakeholder input to decide how and where to work; (2) tailor strategies to local ecological and social conditions; (3) build relationships and support landowner interests; (4) reduce barriers to participation; (5) offer a menu of options to support landowner conservation behavior; and (6) promote persistence of landowner conservation behavior. These principles emphasize the importance of recognizing the considerations of landowners, customizing interventions to local conditions, and making interventions as easy to implement as possible. Developing relationships with landowners, along with a diverse menu of conservation interventions, takes time and effort but should improve both the uptake and persistence of conservation practices on private lands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We used radiotelemetry to study behavior of White-throated Robins (Turdus assimilis) during the postfledging dependent period. The study was conducted in a mixed agricultural and forested landscape in southern Costa Rica from March through August of 2001 and 2002. A transmitter was attached to one fledgling per brood (n = 53). Each bird was located daily prior to dispersal. We compared survivorship, habitat use, and movements of fledglings from (1) nests in coffee plantations and (2) nests in cattle pastures. The probability of surviving the first three weeks out of the nest was 0.67 [+ or -] 0.07 (SE) for fledglings from nests in all habitats, 0.58 [+ or -] 0.10 for fledglings from nests in coffee, and 0.74 [+ or -] 0.26 for fledglings from nests in pasture. Fledglings from nests in pasture left their nesting habitat at younger ages than did those from nests in coffee, and most birds from both habitats moved into forest when they left their nesting habitat. Pasture was rarely used during the postfledging period, whereas coffee plantations were used extensively. Fledglings that remained in agricultural habitats (coffee or pasture) were less likely to survive until dispersal than were those that moved into forested areas. Average daily distances from the nest gradually increased until fledglings dispersed away from the natal area, always into forest, and were not different for birds from pasture or coffee. White-throated Robins can nest successfully in agricultural habitats, but use of forest positively influenced survivorship of young during the postfledging dependent period.

We document characteristics of the previously undescribed nest, nest site, and eggs of the Ochre-breasted Antpitta (Grallaricula flavirostris). We found three nests in 1999 and 2000 in the Talamanca Mountains of southern Costa Rica. The nests were cup shaped and constructed primarily of green moss with linings of thin sticks and black rhizomorphs. Mean nest height above the ground was 3.1 m. Nests were located in the forks of slim saplings in two eases and, in one case, in a larger tree at a point where several smaller branches left the trunk. We observed clutches of one and two eggs. Eggs appeared pale reddish brown with some darker spotting. The incubation period was 17-21 d and we estimate the nestling period lasts 14-16 d., Many aspects of the biology of most antpittas (Formicariidae) are not well understood because the birds are easily overlooked and relatively difficult to observe (Robbins et al. 1994), with new [...]

The document titled "Thank you to the reviewers of the 2023 Ornithological Applications, volume 125" expresses gratitude to the reviewers who contributed their time and expertise to review manuscripts for the journal. The author acknowledges that reviewing articles is a valuable contribution to society's knowledge about bird conservation and management. The list of reviewers includes 190 individuals, with special recognition given to those who reviewed multiple manuscripts. The author also acknowledges the efforts of the associate editors, senior editors, and staff involved in producing the journal. [Extracted from the article]

Pest birds cause substantial and costly damage to crops. Managing birds is complex because (1) they are highly mobile, (2) they habituate quickly to many deterrents, (3) some species provide benefits to farmers by deterring and consuming pest insects, rodents, and other birds, and (4) birds are highly valued by many people. Thus, farmers have many issues to consider when developing bird management strategies. Here I discuss recent work indicating that farmer adoption of sustainable agricultural practices is more likely when practices are effective, clear guidelines for implementation are available, implementation is relatively easy, and when practices are linked, in farmers' minds and logistically, with other farm management practices. This manuscript draws together information about these factors for common bird management tactics to ad in the development of sustainable bird management strategies by farmers and the development of education programs for farmers by extension personnel and researchers. Such strategies will necessarily involve combinations of tactics, following the framework of Integrated Pest Management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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