Author Topic: Name and shame trouble-making birds!  (Read 1419 times)

fruit nerd

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Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« on: June 20, 2022, 06:33:04 AM »
I love birds and wildlife but sometimes they can be a pain. May I present my arch nemesis, the Orange-footed scrubfowl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange-footed_scrubfowl. They have a habit of scratching around newly planted trees, even raking them out of the ground on occasions. Close second would be the Sulphur-crested cockatoo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulphur-crested_cockatoo since they love rambutans and durian.

fliptop

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #1 on: June 20, 2022, 08:50:18 AM »
The Orange-Footed Scrubfowl is a smooth looking bird! My domestic chickens pretty much do the same type of damage. Here is my latest attempt at preventing them from uprooting trees. I laid plastic chickenwire around the tree bases and clipped them together with clothes pins. I did this yesterday, so we'll see if they figure a workaround. Prior, I wrapped the bases with frost cloth, making my yard look like a Christo and Jeanne-Claude installation. It worked up until the chickens figured out they could simply move the cloth and have at it.






« Last Edit: June 20, 2022, 08:58:09 AM by fliptop »

Finca La Isla

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #2 on: June 20, 2022, 09:48:10 AM »
Worse for us is the Montezuma’s Oropendula. These birds come in a large flock, perhaps 50 or so and make fast work of rambutan especially.
In other parts of CR the worst might be flocks of small parrots.
Peter

canito 17

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2022, 12:44:34 PM »
Dominican Green parrot and Venezuela Turpial. But the worst is the "gallina de palo " lizzard

SHV

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2022, 03:06:00 PM »
Hah, I love this title so I had to weigh in.  Right around this time of year, the common House Finch ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_finch) and White-crowned sparrow (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-crowned_sparrow) lay waste to any exposed tree fruit.  Stone fruit, tropical cherries, and grapes are all victims of their tiny beaks that cumulatively cause a ton of damage.  I have to net or bag everything if I want an uncontaminated bite.

elouicious

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #5 on: June 20, 2022, 05:18:11 PM »
our chickens have eaten probably 50x their monetary value in seedlings and dug up or destroyed twice as much

spaugh

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #6 on: June 20, 2022, 06:05:38 PM »
I hate crows.
Brad Spaugh

K-Rimes

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #7 on: June 20, 2022, 06:28:08 PM »
American Robin bar none for me. They eat everything here, and often peck into green fruit. Everyone said that white mulberry was immune because they couldn't see it - they figured that out this year and I didn't get a single one. I have to bag fruit that I want to actually eat. The permaculture direction I went in, while certainly great for the trees, exploded the insect and bird population and now I rarely get fruit.

spaugh

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #8 on: June 20, 2022, 07:12:46 PM »
American Robin bar none for me. They eat everything here, and often peck into green fruit. Everyone said that white mulberry was immune because they couldn't see it - they figured that out this year and I didn't get a single one. I have to bag fruit that I want to actually eat. The permaculture direction I went in, while certainly great for the trees, exploded the insect and bird population and now I rarely get fruit.

Bb gun?
Brad Spaugh

SHV

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #9 on: June 20, 2022, 11:40:46 PM »
I hate crows.

Crows are my Fall season nemesis.  They go to town on my large pecan tree, so my pellet rifle puts in some work. They are too damn smart though. One crow is a lookout for the crew and alert the whole flock as soon as they see me walk out with literal murder in my eyes. 

spaugh

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #10 on: June 20, 2022, 11:47:08 PM »
Yep, super smart and very cautious.  Hard to get a shot off on them.  I got one the other day with a 12ga.  Took a few weeks before he let me take the shot. 
Brad Spaugh

Fiddler

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #11 on: June 21, 2022, 04:20:39 AM »
Here in Florida the red-bellied woodpecker makes up the third member of the "Big Three" on my enemies list. The raccoon and grey squirrel being the other two. Trapping and shooting controls the mammals pretty well, but the woodpeckers have the advantage of sheer numbers. Very destructive birds!
    Crows, being very smart, get the message quickly when you make an example of one of them. I shoot the lookout while the others are busily engaged in raiding my lychee and loquat trees. After that, they'll avoid even flying over my property for a year or two. Flocks of common grackles used to be a problem when I was growing citrus, but since I lost all my citrus to greening disease years ago, they tend to leave my other fruit alone.

bovine421

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #12 on: June 21, 2022, 04:49:29 AM »
Name and shame Mal pwop kikit  You dirty chicken
« Last Edit: June 21, 2022, 08:17:55 AM by bovine421 »
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K-Rimes

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #13 on: June 21, 2022, 01:56:01 PM »
American Robin bar none for me. They eat everything here, and often peck into green fruit. Everyone said that white mulberry was immune because they couldn't see it - they figured that out this year and I didn't get a single one. I have to bag fruit that I want to actually eat. The permaculture direction I went in, while certainly great for the trees, exploded the insect and bird population and now I rarely get fruit.

Bb gun?

There are no joke hundreds of birds in my yard during peak fruit season. Nets and bags, my only hope. I live deep in the national forest by a creek so there's a lot of wildlife action here. Luckily we have an overage of mountain lions so not much deer pressure... For now. That's when the gun comes out I've decided.

fruit nerd

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #14 on: June 21, 2022, 06:13:24 PM »
I've tried a bunch of different ways to protect newly planted trees from putting bricks and rocks around the base to plastic mesh guards. Though I will admit, I am often lazy and take my chances. One thing I've noticed is that the scrub fowl do not seem to be too destructive over the wet season. I assume there is no shortage of moist leaf letter for them to scratch around in. Interestingly, the birds seem to leave my mulberry tree alone. I never net the tree and basically never lose any fruit. I back on to a reserve and there is no shortage of birds around here.

K-Rimes

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #15 on: June 21, 2022, 06:19:23 PM »
I've tried a bunch of different ways to protect newly planted trees from putting bricks and rocks around the base to plastic mesh guards. Though I will admit, I am often lazy and take my chances. One thing I've noticed is that the scrub fowl do not seem to be too destructive over the wet season. I assume there is no shortage of moist leaf letter for them to scratch around in. Interestingly, the birds seem to leave my mulberry tree alone. I never net the tree and basically never lose any fruit. I back on to a reserve and there is no shortage of birds around here.

Bizarre. Mulberries are their favorite here. They obliterate them just as they change color.

fliptop

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #16 on: November 01, 2022, 04:44:22 PM »
My latest attempt at keeping my chickens from destroying my trees and plants: palm fronds. The earlier attempt with plastic chicken wire kinda failed when grass grew into it--I had to wrestle the chicken wire out of the ground to prevent it from eventually girdling the trees.

I've collected a lot of neighborhood fronds courtesy of Hurricane Ian. Hopefully I'm not bringing any diseases in😝



pagnr

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #17 on: November 01, 2022, 06:03:24 PM »
The Orange-Footed Scrubfowl is a smooth looking bird! My domestic chickens pretty much do the same type of damage.

Not sure that your chickens can move as much dirt as this guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZBA0irVlRU

Another similar mound builder is the Bush Turkey / Brush Turkey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-B2gcvFWyc
They can wreck a vegetable garden very quickly.

The Mallee Fowl is also related, from arid areas.
It doesn't invade gardens like the Bush Turkey, and is rarely seen.
Also it is endangered due to Habitat destruction and introduced Cat and Fox predation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCrw1rAqiDE

While looking for these videos to post, I found out about another species in Sulawesi, Maleo bird.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOzpidKWEuI

fliptop

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #18 on: November 02, 2022, 04:12:54 PM »
Great videos, pagnr! Do people eat Scrubfowl or Brush Turkey? That'd have to be some tough meat on those legs!

pagnr

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #19 on: November 02, 2022, 05:49:48 PM »
All native wildlife in Australia is protected, (apart from fishing and duck shooting season, some Kangaroo hunting, Agricultural Pest Control Permits).
Not sure if Australian Aboriginal groups with traditional hunting rights still eat them.
I have to confess I know a French vegetable gardener and excellent cook who solved a garden destruction problem, by a gang of large Bush Turkey chicks, via the freezer and cook pot. I hear they were quite tasty.
There has been a population boom in Suburban Brisbane and Sydney.
They are not too bothered by the presence of people, and often inhabit parks and picnic areas etc. and backyards.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-26/scientist-cant-explain-brisbane-brush-turkey-explosion/5987606
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/grafton/brush-turkeys-invading-suburban-sydney-backyards/news-story/90b551e6f642527762b6f594d1ba0a3e

fruit nerd

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Re: Name and shame trouble-making birds!
« Reply #20 on: November 03, 2022, 07:08:59 AM »
We have a Bush Turkey that sometimes makes a visit to our place. Never causes an issue. One the other hand, the scrub fowl walk around like they own the place :)