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Preparation of equipment to transmit the amplified distress calls of blackbirds. This method often is effective in 

 protecting crops from flocks of depredating birds. (Photo by Paul P. Springer) 



Decoy trap for blackbirds and starlings. — Re- 

 search personnel are using decoy traps extensively 

 and successfully to take blackbirds and starlings 

 for banding, for disease and physiology studies, 

 and for testing chemosterilant and lethal agents. 

 The traps are also being evaluated as a means of re- 

 ducing local populations of depredating black- 

 birds and starlings. 



In 40 decoy traps of 2 designs used by Bureau 

 personnel in the Arkansas rice area, over 53,500 

 birds were taken. Most (98 percent) were cow- 

 birds. Good trapping success in some areas 

 prompted many growers to build and operate 

 similar traps. One farmer reported taking 10,000 

 birds in 1 trap in less than 2 months; another 

 caught (1,000 in 3 traps in 3 weeks. Many other 

 examples of trapping success can be cited. 



Bird bcharior studicx ini plnnrnted hi/ band- 

 ing. — During 1963, over 71,000 blackbirds and 



starlings were banded in selected areas by biolo- 

 gists and cooperators of the Bureau's Patuxent 

 Center, 82 percent more than were banded in 1962. 

 The increase was due mainly to more extensive use 

 of light traps and decoy traps, both devices newly 

 developed for capturing large numbers of black- 

 birds. Over 50 percent of the 71,000 bandings 

 were cowbirds, 20 percent were red- winged black- 

 birds. 20 percent were common graekles, and about 

 10 percent were starlings. 



About 2,800 redwing nestlings were banded by 

 175 cooperators in 40 States and 7 Provinces in 

 1963. Nestlings banded since 1958 now number 

 12,000 birds of known age and place of origin. 

 Most of the banding was in the Middle Atlantic 

 Slates (5.500), or the States adjoining Lake Mich- 

 igan (2,500). The interest and efforts of cooper- 

 ating banders in many States are contributing 

 substantially to the blackbird banding effort. 



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