ABSTRACT
There are nearly 1,000 species of birds in North America, some of which provide obvious economic benefits like egg production, meat production, bird watching, or hunting (American Bird Association 2016). Some bird species, however, can cause a considerable amount of damage to U.S. agriculture, with estimates of annual damage caused by birds in the United States exceeding US$4.7 billion (Pimentel et al. 2005). Blackbirds (Icteridae) are one group of birds in North America that can cause significant economic damage to commercial grain crops, and to a lesser extent vine and tree crops (Wilson et al. 1989; Dolbeer 1990; Linz et al. 2011; Anderson et al. 2013).
