A questionnaire survey of bird damage to fruit

Replies by New Zealand fruitgrowers to a questionnaire suggested that the most troublesome bird species in their crops were blackbird ( Turdus merula ), song thrush ( Turdus ericetorum ), myna ( Acridotheres tristis ), starling ( Sturnus Vulgaris ), white‐eye ( Zosterops lateralis ), and house sparrow ( Passer domesticus ); and that the most serious damage was to strawberries, grapes, cherries, pears, and apples. Goldfinches ( Carduelis carduelis ) and redpolls ( Carduelis flammea ) ate strawberry seeds, and redpolls, sparrows, chaffinches ( Fringilla coelebs ), and greenfinches ( Chloris chloris ) attacked fruit buds. Current control methods and their claimed effectiveness are tabulated.