Okanagan fruit growers look to the sky to control starling problem

PENTICTON – The Okanagan Wildlife and Nature Society is hoping that protecting and helping one species of bird will also help control another.

If successful, the program will offer agriculturalists a natural pest control option for European starlings, while providing nesting habitat for North America’s smallest falcon, the American kestrel.

The not-for-profit society is headed by biologists Matthias and Jason Bieber and based in Summerland.

Matthias said in an information release the society is working in conjunction with the B.C. Grape Growers Association and Warne in the Wild, connecting with land owners of orchards and vineyards in the Central and South Okanagan to locate 21 nest boxes, which were distributed to various locations from Kelowna to Osoyoos in March.

Kestrels eat some small birds like the European starling, an invasive species causing thousands of dollars worth of damage to Okanagan fruit and grape crops as well as devastating other local bird populations.

The American kestrel is a native species, not only the smallest falcon in North America, but also one of the widest ranging birds of prey on the continent.

The bird prefers open country, but in spite of being adaptable, is in decline across North America.

Some regions in the Pacific Northwest have shown up to 60 to 70 per cent declines over the past 50 years, although the trend is uncertain in the Okanagan. Reasons for the decline could include competition for nesting cavities by other species such as the starling, as well as pesticide use.

The kestral has shown it can successfully take to a nest box and result in a significant decrease in the presence of pest birds.

Matthias says a study of Michigan cherry orchards found counts of pest birds were much lower in orchards with kestral boxes. The lower counts translated into substantial economic benefits to the growers.

The program is being run as a citizen science project where landowners monitor the boxes on their property, submitting data at the end of the season. The end goal is to have the boxes eventually become inhabited by a pair of kestrels, if not this year, then in following years.

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