Pesticides are often considered beneficial for keeping pests away and avoiding potential harm to humans. While this is true, pesticides can also significantly impact non-target animals like birds. From the loss of food sources to declines in important ecosystem processes, the use of pesticides can cause adverse effects and reduce the bird population. This guide explores the direct and indirect impact of pesticides on bird populations and effective strategies you can implement to reduce their effects.
Why Are Pesticides Used Near Bird Habitats?
Pesticides are necessary solutions that help minimize the damage caused by invasive pests. People apply them in agricultural settings or residential areas, whether growing vegetables to sell or a garden of flowers to enjoy. Some of the more popular pesticides include:
- Insecticides: These kill certain insects before they can harm a plant.
- Fungicides: These help eliminate harmful fungi.
- Herbicides: These kill weed foliage.
- Rodenticides: These help keep rodent damage at bay.
While pesticides are essential for preventing humans and some wildlife from catching harmful diseases, when these chemicals are used close to bird habitats, they could create an unsafe environment that adversely affects or kills birds. According to one study, agricultural pesticides have already affected 87% of globally threatened bird species.
The Impact of Pesticides on Bird Population, Behavior and Reproduction
Pesticides can affect bird behavior, reproductive health and the well-being of other dependent species. Most importantly, they may cause a decline in bird populations, triggering a decrease in ecosystems and biodiversity. Let's explore in depth how pesticides affect birds.
Direct Effects of Pesticides
Pesticides have many direct effects on birds, whether they are exposed to them directly or indirectly. The most common direct exposure is when a bird swallows the pesticide. This often happens when it is in the form of a pellet or granule, which they may mistake for a seed.
Indirect pesticide exposure could result from eating contaminated prey, drinking tainted water or ingesting residue off their feathers while preening. Pesticides may also be absorbed by the skin when birds bathe in contaminated water, or these chemicals could be inhaled if applied aerially.
The extent of harm birds may incur depends on their duration of exposure, the toxicity of the chemicals and how often they are exposed to pesticides. They may lack an appetite and spend less time foraging or flying due to lethargy. They may also experience decreased reproductive health that includes deformed embryos, eggshell thinning and slower nestling growth rates. Direct pesticide exposure may also trigger an inability to comprehend the right direction for migration.
Indirect Effects of Pesticides
The indirect effects of pesticides on birds may occur in situations where birds haven't interacted with the pesticide themselves. For example, let's say someone applied herbicides or insecticides to get rid of weeds and insects. Birds who primarily thrive on these things may go hungry because there is a reduced availability of food for them and their young. With fewer weeds available, birds may also have less plant cover to conceal their nests and avoid predators.
Ecological Consequences of Declining Bird Populations
The main fear concerning exposure to pesticides is that it may cause a significant decline in bird species populations. Pesticides and fertilizers are the main drivers of the decline in bird populations. Studies show that this decline is more intense among farmland birds in Europe and North America due to agricultural intensification and pesticide use.
Another report stated that 42.8% of surveyed gardeners in the UK used pesticides, with the majority of these products being insecticides, weedkillers and molluscicides. According to the report, this offers clear potential for garden bird species to gain direct or indirect pesticide exposure.
From an ecological point of view, declining bird populations can lead to a decrease in important ecosystem processes like decomposition, seed dispersal and pollination. This may further reduce dependent ecosystem services, tropic cascades and other dependent species.
How to Reduce the Effects of Pesticides on Birds
It's critical that residential community members and agricultural farmers keep bird species and other wildlife in mind when using pesticides. There are various ways we can work together to reduce the impact of pesticides on birds in the future.
1. Use Sustainable Alternatives to Pesticides
There are many natural alternatives to pesticides that are effective and help you avoid harming birds and other wildlife. Instead of using insecticides, try using diatomaceous earth, thyme, peppermint, rosemary oil or neem oil. Neem oil can also be an effective replacement for fungicides. Instead of rodenticides, you can use peppermint oil-coated cotton balls. You can also replace herbicides with vinegar or boiling water.
2. Raise Awareness and Educate Community Members Through Campaigns
On top of implementing better practices yourself, educate others about what you know to help ensure they stay mindful, too. You can do this by creating an outreach campaign to raise awareness about the impact of pesticides on birds and alternative pest control methods. You can either do this through an online community group or arrange a bird-watching campaign in a community park where you educate visitors about the importance of safer practices.
3. Implement Safer Pesticide Practices
If you must use pesticides, try to make sure you keep your backyard bird-friendly by putting them in the places birds don't normally go or placing them in containers or spaces that are inaccessible to birds yet accessible to insects or rodents. You should also avoid throwing the pesticide rinse water in storm drains or sewers. It may also be helpful for those in agricultural areas to leave some vegetation near bird habitats untreated.
4. Contact the Right People in Case of Accidental Exposure
If you accidentally expose birds to pesticides or see that a bird has been harmed by pesticides, contact your state's natural resources protection department. You may find more detailed information about what department that is and what you can do through the National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC).
Enjoy Bird-Watching in Peace With a Bird Feeder From FeatherSnap
Pesticides pose significant threats to the bird population, with the most extreme being unsuccessful breeding and low chances of survival. This creates an urgent need to work together with your community to keep the birds in your area safe. Through increased awareness and sustainable practices, your community may be able to help reduce decreases in the bird population.
Whether you're an avid bird-watcher or you just care about the well-being of birds and other wildlife, smart bird feeders like FeatherSnap Scout offer an excellent way to view birds up close in real time. Aside from the joy of seeing various bird species through our connected app, smart feeders also create opportunities to keep birds away from pesticide-infested places. The live camera feed can also help you see if they show signs of being harmed by pesticides. Learn more about our smart bird feeder and purchase the FeatherSnap Scout today!
