Birds Caught Live In New-Style Trap

Birds Caught Live In New-Style Trap MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Pest Animals 3-2-17 Latest new weapon for controlling pest bird populations in fields or feedlots is the new "live-trap" system out of an area of Canada that loses thousands of dollars of grain per year to growing bird populations. "Farmers have caught up to 2,000 birds live in three months using just one trap," Richard L. Demeester, Granville Ferry, Nova Scotia, inventor of the Wings Inn System, told FARM SHOW. An entrance grate in the top of the "V"-shaped trap is just large enough for birds to slip through. Once in, perches located near the outwardleaning walls keep the birds away from the grates, where they could escape. The pest birds are lured in by live decoys, and a generous supply of grain and water. "It's important that decoys are the smallest species being trapped so that other birds aren't scared off, and that there is always lots of food and water to keep the birds inside the cage happy," says Demeester. The birds are so content in the cage that, when released, they usually come back. Naturalists who have used the trap for banding birds have had to take the birds 10 miles away to lose them. Otherwise, they'll keep coming back, says Demeester. Earle DeMerchant, a New Brunswick area crop specialist with the Canadian Department of Agriculture, promotes use of the trap and notes that many area farmers lost up to 75% of their corn crop from blackbirds in 1977. In the spring of 1978, he monitored 15 traps which caught 22,000 birds in less than eight weeks. "Personally, I gave the Wings Inn System much credit for a substantial reduction in the amount of bird damage to crops. Twenty-two thousand birds is 11,000 pair, each of which could have six to eight young. Therefore, in theory, we kept some 80,000 birds off the crops," says DeMerchant. He recommends the system be used during spring and summer because birds are in residence and there is less food available. In early fall, when huge flocks migrate, traps are less effective but flocks generally don't stay long either, says Demeester. And later in the fall when corn would still typically be an the field, traps will still be on the job. The trap is set up at least 200 ft. from trees and buildings, in a conspicuous area between watering marshes, and roosting and feeding grounds, to catch birds traveling to eat or drink. The traps also work well around barns or bunker silos or any infested area, says Demeester. Most any grain can be used for bait. Each trap holds hundreds of birds. To kill them, one user puts the birds in a burlap bag and holds it over a car exhaust. A Wings Inn trap costs about $200 in kit form. Dealer inquires welcome. For more details, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Richard L. Demeester, Rt., 2, Granville Ferry, Nova Scotia, BOS 1KO (ph 902 532-5982).

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