Use of nonlethal bird repellants

Use of nonlethal bird repellants



Feb 2007 - The Minnesota 
Department of Natural Resources, DNR, has received temporary 
approval for the use of the nonlethal bird repellant Avitec 
from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 
New this spring is a liquid formulation to complement use of a 
powder that was approved last year. 
Farmers in Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota can use this 
repellent to treat seed corn in areas where cranes have been 
damaging corn fields by eating corn seeds shortly after 
planting. 
This approval reduces potential conflicts arising between 
farmers and the increasing population of sandhill cranes, the 
state agency said. 
The use of Avitec represents a cooperation effort by the 
International Crane Foundation, the Minnesota Department of 
Agriculture, and the DNR Nongame Wildlife Program to prevent 
damage that cranes cause. 
Avitec has an active ingredient of 9,10 Anthraquinone, a 
naturally occurring substance used by plants to repel birds. 
Cranes detect Avitec at very low levels and avoid it. Though 
treated, planted kernels are not eaten by cranes and the birds 
continue to forage on waste grains and other foods in those 
same fields. This benefits the farmers because waste corn and 
many types of beetle larvae can later cause problems as the 
crop matures. 
This first agricultural application of 9,10 Anthraquinone, 
approved within the U.S. as a bird repellent, is the result of 
extensive collaboration among federal, state, and private 
organizations as well as Arkion, the manufacturer of Avitec. 
Applications for longer term use of Avitec are being pursued 
for the 2008 planting season. 
The recovery of Minnesota's sandhill crane population is a 
conservation success story, the DNR says. From the 1930s, when 
the state's crane population was estimated at fewer than three 
dozen birds the population has increased dramatically. 
Sandhill Cranes now are the most abundant of the world’s 
cranes. They are widely, though intermittently, distributed 
throughout North America, extending into Cuba and far 
northeastern Siberia, according to the International Crane 
Foundation.

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