Abstract
We examined feeding behavior by visually blocking fruit to establish a new theory of bird damage management for agricultural practices. Partly or fully invisible clusters of grapes were fixed on a perch. The birds selectively pecked the clearly visible part of the half-visible bag at a pecking count rate of 0.94–1.00 (95% CI). Half-visible bags allowed the birds to look inside like a skirt and detect the initially hidden portions of grapes, which were covered with opaque white bags. However, very few birds pecked at the white bags that were partially covering the grapes. That is, very few birds attempted to eat covered but easily detectable fruits. Only five birds gravitated toward the grapes in the completely covered nontranslucent bags, but they never pecked at them. Our results show that visual blocking could be a promising new technique to prevent bird damage.
Highlights
Birds damage agricultural productions; effective countermeasures have not been developed
The bulbuls never pecked fruits that were covered by a full bag, even though repeatedly birds fed on uncovered fruits that were located in the same position as the covered and not visible fruit
Birds could see inside the white half bag by looking into a space between the fruit and the invisible bag like a skirt
Summary
Birds damage agricultural productions; effective countermeasures have not been developed. Relationships between fruiting plants and avian seed dispersers have been well studied, and seed dispersers are believed to have exerted selective pressure on a diverse array of plant traits [9,10,11,12,13,14]. These traits include fruit nutritive quality [15], size [16], density (distance between fruits) [17, 18], and color [13]. The effect of visual blocking has not been documented
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