Pest Management Services

Bird damage to horticulture is a worldwide problem, be it in grapes, berry fruit or other crops.  Birds causing the problem include starlings, blackbirds, sparrows, finches and mynas.  Bird problems in urban areas are also an increasing problem bought about by people feeding birds and by the wider use of open air food courts and cafes where birds have ready access to the public and continuous food.

MAGPIES, FERAL PIGEONS, HOUSE SPARROWS, MYNAS, STARLINGS AND BLACKBIRDS are all classed as nuisance pests and are not protected. They can be controlled with decoys, repellents, nets, scare equipment, cage traps and/or narcotics (alphachoralose paste and wheat).

MAGPIES HARASS NATIVE BIRDS, restricting their range. They also harass people, particularly children. Magpies eat native lizards, worms, insects, spiders and other invertebrates. They are extremely territorial and are at their most aggressive during their breeding season, which is generally between August and November.

FERAL PIGEONS eat ripening peas, newly sown cereals and stock food, earthworms, snails and general scraps, but their main diet is seeds and grains.

HOUSE SPARROWS eat seeds, the leaves of seedling vegetables, fruits and scraps. They will nip off the germinating shoots of cherry trees.

MYNAS eat insects, wild and cultivated fruits, scraps, stock mash and general rubbish.

STARLINGS feed on seeds, insects, nectar from flax flowers and fruit. They cause damage to grapes, cherries, berry fruit and apples.

BLACKBIRDS mainly eat wild and cultivated fruit, worms and spiders.

For further information and guidelines to our products, check out our BIRD FACT PACK.