Scientific name
What it does
Rice-eating birds chew rice grains, and can cause whitehead or unfilled panicles.
They either squeeze the grains during the milky phase, or eat the entire grain once mature. The damage shows a milky white substance covering the grains.
Why and where it occurs
Birds become a problem from ripening phase—when the rice plant is already developing and filling in grains—until harvest.
Some species will feed off of the panicles by either landing upon them, by perching on nearby objects (such as fences or posts) or by eating the dropped grain on the ground when fields are harvested. Bird pest species are most abundant during this time.
How to identify
Check for presence of milky substance on chewed grains, and for whiteheads with removed grains. Whiteheads can also be caused by stemborer. To confirm the cause of damage:
- in bird’s damage, not all grains are chaffy
- in stemborer's damage, all grains in a panicle are chaffy and the panicle can be pulled out easily
Out of more than 70 species of birds found in the rice fields, only five species in the Philippines (and about 14 in Southeast Asia) are known to feed on rice. Some rice-eating birds include:
Click on images to enlarge
How to manage
Some management options that can be adopted include:
- Hire "bird boys" to shoo away birds in your farm.
- Set up nets over your field
- Set up bird-tapes over the rice plants when at ripening phase
- Use noisemakers to produce random sounds and recordings that can scare the birds
- Use chemical repellents
- Use decoy birds to attract or repel the birds in your farm
- Use flags, scare crows, or bird kites
- Eco-engineering or leave bigger birds to hunt naturally without persecution
Learn more
View full fact sheet: Birds on IRRI Rice Knowledge Bank