Falcons help Argentine farmers curb crop losses from bird pests

Trained falcons were being put to work in Argentina as active crop guards, used to push pigeons and caturritas away from corn, sunflower and other plantings where losses in some locations had reached 40% of a harvest. The approach was being framed not as show falconry, but as biological control, with raptors flying the same ground the birds of prey already hunted and making fields less attractive to granivorous pests.

That practical appeal was strongest where damage was hitting both the field and the farmyard. The same birds were being used around silos, warehouses and other rural facilities, which gave producers a tool that could move from open rows to storage sites without chemicals or fixed barriers. For growers looking for a cleaner answer than pesticides, the raptor patrol offered a nonlethal option that fit better with ecological balance than poison or heavy-handed deterrents.

The underlying biology in Argentina made the argument plausible. CONICET-linked research has identified the Aplomado Falcon, Falco femoralis, as a potential biological pest controller in central Argentina, with prey including the Eared Dove, Zenaida auriculata, one of the region’s best-known crop raiders. Other CONICET work has listed Eared Doves, Monk Parakeets, Picazuro Pigeons and Spot-winged Pigeons among the species that pressure rural production in the Pampas.

INTA-linked studies have sharpened that picture by crop and location. One found monk parakeet abundance and damage were greater in sunflower than in corn, while another showed bird richness was higher in field headlands and climbed with unburied seed density, with abundance highest in maize fields. That kind of pattern helps explain why falconry is being treated as a targeted tool for planting edges, ripening crops and exposed storage areas, not a blanket fix for every farm.

The urgency also fits the modern Pampas. A 2025 raptor study said the grasslands have been transformed since agriculture expanded in the late 18th century, with less than 10% still native and less than 1% protected. It also recorded at least 14 species of Accipitriformes, four Falconiformes and four Strigiformes in agroecosystems, a reminder that birds of prey are already part of the farm landscape. In that setting, falconry is being recast as working livestock for crop protection, while growers keep pressing for better tools against a bird problem that changes from field to field and from crop to crop.