Project tests using hawks, falcons to protect local fields
Yuma growers are continually looking for more efficient and effective methods to grow our myriad of crops so they are the safest and highest quality products on the market. One of the newer methods used in food safety is falconry, or bird vs. bird to protect leafy greens.
Researcher Dr. Paula Rivadeneira of the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Yuma Agricultural Center provided me with the information for this article on her latest food safety project.
Have you ever noticed that when hawks and falcons are flying around smaller birds like starlings and grackles are nowhere to be found? For years, vineyards and orchards have been using that to their advantage, hiring falconers to fly trained birds over their crops to prevent nuisance birds from damaging or contaminating them.
Despite the great success that vineyards and orchards have reported with using falconry, few farmers of other commodities have tried it, mainly due to the high cost of hiring falconers.
Rivadeneira wondered if falconry would be effective at deterring nuisance birds from leafy green fields in Yuma, where strict food safety standards are enforced by state (Leafy Green Marketing Agreement) and federal (Food Safety Modernization Act) regulations.
She received a grant from the Center for Produce Safety to research just that. As part of the project, she is going to determine if falconry can be economically feasible on large scale for all Yuma growers, as well as for others who could benefit from its use, like livestock facilities, golf courses, outdoor venues and others.
The project started in January and will run through December 2019. Rivadeneira hired Sonoran Desert Falconry out of Scottsdale to provide falconry services for the project. Sonoran Desert Falconry is owned by Tiffany White, the only female minority master falconer in the country. She and her staff are living on-site in a field in a UA recreational vehicle called the SCATT (Super Cool Agricultural Testing and Teaching) Lab where they set up aviaries to house their trained birds.
Every morning just after sunrise, falconers drive to fields they were assigned to protect, count the number of nuisance birds flying over and landing in the fields and record the species of birds present. Based on the species present, the falconers will select a trained bird to scare the nuisance birds away. They are currently using Harris hawks, aplomado falcons and peregrine falcons, all experienced with bird abatement in agricultural settings.
Every hour from sunrise through sunset, the falconers make their rounds to the fields they are protecting, recording data and releasing trained birds to protect the crops. It is important to note that they are performing abatement, which is scaring the nuisance birds away; they are not hunting. No animals will be harmed during the course of the study.
There are currently two falconers, White and subcontractor Ricky Ortiz, working on the project. In addition, an Americorps volunteer is serving on the project along with research staffers from Rivandereira’s lab.
While the project has only just begun, observations from the field so far indicate that horned larks, red-winged blackbirds and dove species leave the field in the presence of trained falcons and hawks. Some return later that day, but many do not.
Dr. Rivandereira will conduct statistical analyses over the summer to determine if the project has been successful so far by comparing the data collected from the falconers in the experimental fields with data collected in control fields where growers are instead using traditional bird deterrents such as sound cannons, pyrotechnics, scarecrows, lasers and human intervention.
Falconry is just one of many techniques that growers use to keep nuisance birds out of leafy green fields. As much as everyone wants a simple fix or a single cure-all, there will never be one. Not for birds. Not for deer. Not for coyotes. Not for any wildlife. Instead, it’s best to focus on integrated pest management in which falconry serves as one important tool.
There are currently eight growers interested in being a part of the falconry project. Researchers have focused on one farm for the spring 2018 growing season where both experimental and control fields were located. Dr. Rivandereira will be meeting with local growers this summer looking at planting and harvesting calendars and deciding which fields to cover over the next 21 months.
If you are interested in learning more about the falconry project or other food safety research, contact Dr. Rivadeneira through https://swes.cals. arizona.edu/people/faculty/paula-rivadeneira.