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An interesting result emerged from my research
into birds usage of farm windbreaks was that common starlings - the major pest
in the central west region of NSW - actually prefer windbreaks that are less
than three rows wide and they also prefer non-native trees. So it could be
useful to vineyards to avoid planting narrow exotic shelterbelts around their
vineyards in favour of wide shelterbelts with native trees and
shrubs. Unfortunately, one of the other problems in this area are
silvereyes and some honeyeaters who prefer the wider, native kind of shelterbelt
- however, these are much less of a problem than starlings so it is probably
overall beneficial to have the latter kind. Certainly vineyards can
be quite good habitat for native birds, particularly where there are native
remnants and plantations nearby, however, I'm not aware of any research in this
area - perhaps my next step??
Another area of interest is the idea of attracting raptors to
vineyards to keep the numbers of pest birds away - any thoughts on this? I
know there is someone in the Adelaide Hillls who is feeding raptors to encourage
them to stay for the grape harvest and there have also been experiments with
poles for nesting (e.g. ospreys in northern NSW). Your comments would be
appreciated.
Cilla Kinross
-----Original Message-----
From:
Steven Barnard <>
To:
<>
Date:
Saturday, 7 April 2001 9:00 PM
Subject: [BIRDING-AUS] Vineyard
Vegetation
I agree with your comments (Harry Clarke)
vineyards in the Central West
(NSW) on previously wheat/sheep properties
have had all remaining native
vegetation removed.
The roses are
used as a component in Integrated Pest Management
on
vineyards.
Steven
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