About
African Falcon
African Falcon specializes in environmentally friendly bird abatement.
Falconry based bird abatement is the use of highly trained falcons and hawks to chase away and intimidate nuisance birds like Quelea. By using natural predator and prey behaviour we reduce crop damage.
A single falcon can move millions of Quelea away from a field in one flight.
The presence of the falcons helps prevent Quelea from establishing feeding behaviour on crops.
Farms protected with this method have consistently held less than 3% damage.
Falconry based bird abatement is an environmentally friendly, non-lethal, low impact way to reduce crop damage and can minimize chemical use.
The Red-billed Quelea ranks among the world’s most destructive birds and is restricted to Africa. They occur in semi-arid, bush, grassland and savannah areas and feed predominantly on the seeds of wild grasses, but due to their huge numbers, they will also feed on sorghum, wheat and millet.
There are an estimated 1.5 billion Red-billed Quelea in Southern Africa.
One Red-billed Quelea can eat 10 – 18 grams of seed per day with flock sizes ranging from 1 – 5 million strong. However, super flocks of 30 million have been reported. A flock of 5 million can easily eat 50 tons of grain or sorghum per day, leaving farmers at the mercy of the ravenous Red-Billed Quelea.
Photo By Charles J Sharp – Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography.co.uk, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
About
Red-billed Quelea
Standard methods
for Quelea control include
spraying the roost or breeding area with a chemical known as quelea-tox
blasting roots by means of bombs containing petrol and diesel
using bird scare gas guns in the field
planting falcon kites and scarecrows
African Falcon does not use any of these methods.
Need assistance with nuisance birds?
We offer the
following services
Crop protection from Quelea
Dove and Pigeon control
Bird abatement at airports and airstrips
Bird abatement training
Intern programs
Research and monitoring on birds of prey and pest birds
Get in touch
ContactFarm 14, Pandamatenga, Botswana
Phone: (+267) 73 177 871
E-mail: info@africanfalcons.com
Please note there may be a delay in response if we are out on the fields.