Life Without Bugs is Life Without Birds: How Pesticides Affect Birds

Bugs aren't everyone's favourite things. They're sometimes creepy, sometimes crawly, and they sure know how to ruin a good camping trip with their incessant buzzing and biting. But like all organisms, they play vital roles in our fragile ecosystems. I'm not just talking about pollinators or the ones humans deem useful, even mosquitoes and blackflies serve a purpose. One of the most important roles they play is prey for birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, other insects & arachnids, insectivorous plants, and even humans. Insects feed virtually every family in the animal kingdom, and without them we'd all be in trouble. 

Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) with grasshopper

What are pesticides?

Simply put, pesticides are chemicals used to destroy insects, arachnids, and other "pests". They have been used for thousands of years, and come in many forms including chemical sprays, edible bait blocks & granules, powders, flea collars, and more. They're used to protect crops, rid our pets of fleas, combat lice, kill insects in our homes & businesses, and most recently, kill mosquitoes and ticks in our yards. Pesticides have effectively saved many human lives by reducing the transmission of diseases like malaria and typhus, which are spread through infected mosquitoes. They have also allowed us to grow food in abundance to keep up with our ever-growing population. While they have clearly proven useful in some situations, there is a wealth of evidence that shows that pesticides are both overused and misused globally, and pose significant health threats to wildlife and ourselves.

How do pesticides affect birds?

Some startling figures from Cornell Lab of Ornithology on our North American bird populations were released last year, which stated that nearly three billion birds have disappeared since 1970. One of the main causes of this troubling decline is widespread pesticide use. In the United States alone, over one billion pounds of pesticides are used each year. While Canada may not be as lenient on regulations regarding pesticide use, we still have over 30 commercially available products that are directly poisonous to birds. There are many more pesticides registered for use in Canada that may not poison birds directly, but have an effect on insect populations which approximately 96% of North American bird species rely on for all or part of their diet.

The chemicals found in many pesticides are capable of poisoning birds either directly or indirectly, typically depending on the form of pesticide and the application. Direct and indirect poisoning often result in weight loss, organ malfunction, and death. Here are examples of direct and indirect poisoning:

• Direct: Granular pesticide sprinkled on the ground around plants, bird pecks at the granules that resemble seed or grit for their crop. The pesticide granules are ingested which (depending on the chemicals used in the pesticide) can cause immediate death, or lead to weight loss and weakness, increasing vulnerability to predators and limiting the bird's ability to find a mate and successfully raise offspring.
  
  Quote from Beyond Pesticides regarding direct pesticide poisoning in birds: "Another study by Pierre Mineau, PhD, linked neonicotinoids (commonly used pesticides) to acute and chronic bird deaths. The report states that “a single corn kernel coated with a neonicotinoid can kill a songbird. Even a tiny grain of wheat or canola treated with the oldest neonicotinoid, imidacloprid, can poison a bird. As little as 1/10th of a corn seed per day during egg-laying season is all that is needed to affect reproduction with any of the neonicotinoids registered to date.” This report concluded that neonicotinoids are toxic to birds and to the aquatic systems on which they depend, prompting calls for a ban on their use as seed treatments and a suspension of all applications from various environmental organizations."
  
  
• Indirect: A crop field is sprayed with pesticide, targeting certain pests. Insects, such as grasshoppers, feed on the crops. Birds feed on the grasshoppers that have ingested the pesticide, and are indirectly poisoned. The accumulation of these poisons in a bird's system can cause severe illnesses and have an effect on their offspring. 
  
  

Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) feeding its young a dragonfly

How to avoid insecticides & help birds

Even if you aren't using insecticides yourself, there are other ways that you may be supporting the widespread use of them. Here are a few ways you can avoid insecticides and help the birds:

• Know where your plants come from. Get to know your local growers and greenhouses, ask questions, and research brands. Whether it be vegetables, flowers, or house plants, it's important to know that the plants you choose to purchase were grown without the use of insecticides & pesticides. 
• Grow your own pesticide-free produce whenever possible. If you aren't in a position to grow your own food, check out local farmer's markets and talk to the growers to find out what their practices are.
• Make the switch to bird-friendly coffee. Bird-friendly coffee comes from certified coffee farms that practice organic & sustainable farming. This means that these farms preserve and create habitat where wildlife can flourish by including foliage cover, plant diversity, leaf litter, waterways, and more. While bird-friendly coffee isn't as commercially available as it should be, there are several companies online that offer shipping to your door and monthly subscription options including Canadian brand Birds & Beans. Click here to learn more about bird-friendly coffee. 
• Use pesticides as a last resort. If you have no other option and must use pesticides, opt for selective pesticides that target specific organisms (ants, flies, etc) rather than non-selective pesticides that destroy all "pests". These broad spectrum pesticides cause the most harm to our wildlife and create toxic, inhabitable environments.
  
  

Merlin (Falco columbarius) eating dragonfly

This is a subject that could fill a library on its own, and my article is just a brief overview of some of the threats that pesticides pose to birds. There are more and more risks associated with pesticide use being discovered every day, and there is so much that we are still unaware of and may not understand for years to come. As annoying as they may be, insects are not an unlimited resource, and are vital for all birds' survival. Life without bugs is life without birds, and life without birds would be a joyless one to live. 

Happy trails!

- Shayna Hartley