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Home → Publications → Tree Planters' Notes → Tree Planters' Notes Issue 29 (1957) → Screening for Seedbed Protection Against Birds

Screening for Seedbed Protection Against Birds

Several species of birds, especially doves, are notorious for their damage to seed and seedlings in forest tree nurseries. Seedlings are particularly vulnerable until the seed coats have dropped from the cotyledons. The seed is eaten and the newly germinated seedlings are clipped below the adhering seed coats and are often pulled out of the soil. Bird activities are greatest at dawn and dusk. The authors have observed the consumption of 67 slash pine seed by a single dove in less than one minute. This was confirmed by an analysis of stomachic contents. Where relatively small numbers of valuable seed from selected parent trees are available, the mischievous activities of birds can often be disastrous to a tree improvement program. To allay the destructiveness of their feeding habits a framed screen has been devised to fit over permanent type seedbeds (fig. 1).


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Author(s): Mervin Reines, James T. Greene

Publication: Tree Planters' Notes - Issue 29 (1957)