Jordan Hollinshead published her MSc research "Orchard management factors affecting rates of bud damage to kiwifruit orchards" in the international journal Crop Protection.
We worked with Zespri to monitor kiwifruit orchards in early Spring in order to identify the birds responsible for bud damage- damage that can have devastating effects since each bud goes on to grow numerous fruit.
Our key take away from this work was that orchards that allowed the inter-row grasses to grow longer and go to seed had significantly lower bud damage, but higher abundance of birds in general- suggesting that this low-cost management strategy may provide alternate foods for birds when bud damage occurs.
We also collected evidence on the key species that cause damage- including house sparrows, as documented in the trail camera video below.
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