Distress feeding of depredatory birds in Sunflower and Sorghum protected by bioacoustics

ABSTRACTOne of the most ignored aspects of bioacoustic technology employed worldwide is lack of understanding between acclimatisation and distress feeding by depredatory birds. Acclimatisation results in gradual increase in resistance to bioacoustics in comparison to distress feeding, which makes sudden surge in instances of feeding by depredatory birds. Acclimatisation and distress feeding are independent functions of feeding behaviour. Distress feeding in itself is a function of physiological conditions of bird, extent of cropped area, distance traveled to obtain food, population dynamics, other natural habitats and cropping pattern in an area and is greatly influenced by them. There are no studies conducted to understand the distress feeding of birds in agricultural landscape. Experiments proved that bioacoustics could offer protection against distress feeding by birds although at reduced efficiency.