Birds methyl anthranilate

Birds smell food not necessarily from a distance. They may do so via the choanae while the food is in the mouth. Waxwings discriminate berries treated with methyl anthranilate from controls only after picking them up with their hills (Avery etal., 1992). 

Feeding repellents for pest birds are the most important application of chemical stimuli to manipulate bird behavior. Methyl anthranilate (Fig. 13.1) and dimethyl anthranilate, esters of benzoic acid, are found in concord grapes and are used as artificial flavorings. Starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, have an aversion to methyl anthranilate, which irritates the trigeminal nerve, and they feed less on food flavored with a variety of anthranilates. They avoid the more volatile anthranilates most. The odor is partly responsible for the effect contact is not necessary. In one particular experiment, only volatile compounds were aversive (Mason and Clark, 1987). If only anthranilate-treated food is offered, the birds will accept more of the flavored food than they do if they offered a choice between... 

FIGURE 13.1 Methyl anthranilate deters birds from feeding and stimulates feeding in mammals. Capsaicin deters mammals from feeding but stimulates birds. 

Birds may have a trigeminal receptor for o-aminoacetophenone and methyl anthranilate, analogous to the capsaicin receptor in mammals (Clark and Shah, 1994). 

Avery, M. L., Decker, D. G., Humphrey, . S., etal. (1995). Methyl anthranilate as a rice seed treatment to deter birds. Journal of Wildlife Management 59,50-56. 

USEPA (2001) Selected Mammal and Bird Repellents 9,10-Anthraquinone (122701), 1-Butanethiol (1-Butylmercaptan) (125001), Fish Oil (122401), Meat Meal (100628), Methyl Anthranilate (128725), Red Pepper (Chile Pepper) (070703) Fact Sheet http //www.epa.gov/oppbppdl/ biopesticides/ingredients / factsheets / factsheeLmam -bird-repel.htm (last accessed 30 April 2010). 

Sour Grapes Methyl Anthranilate as Feeding Repellent for Birds... 

Bird repellent experiment Location of four feeders, each containing birdseed treated with a different concentration of methyl anthranilate... 

Birds such as starlings attack Concord grapes less than other grape varieties. Concord grapes contain comparatively high levels of methyl anthranilate (MA) ... 

This real-world exercise tests the efficacy of a feeding repellent in free-ranging mammals. It constitutes the counterpart to the repellent effect of methyl anthranilate on feeding by birds (see Chap. 3). The experiment works at any place with wild squirrels and in any season. The many mammal repellents on the market are aimed against deer, predators such as raccoons, foxes and coyotes, and rodents such as voles, mice, squirrels, woodchucks, and others. Mammal repellents are known under names such as copper naphthenate, trimethacarb, zinc naphthenate, and ziram. 

The observation that birds do not eat Concord grapes led to the isolation of methyl anthranilate (11.27), which is now used to keep gulls off airports and Canada geese off of lawns.146 Before this use, 15,000 gulls had to be shot in 1991 at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City. 

At the end of the pretreatment period, birds were weighed and ranked on the basis of consumption of feed. These rankings were then used to assign birds to groups that were balanced with respect to feed intake. Pellet consumption was not used to assign birds to groups because measurable ingestion was low. The pretreatment period was then followed by treatment trials in which birds were presented with pellets that either did or did not contain methyl anthranilate, and consumption was estimated as described above. 

Mason, J.R., M.L. Avery, J.F. Glahn, D.L. Otis, R.E. Matteson C.O. Nelms. 1991a. Evaluation of methyl anthranilate relative to starch-plated dimethyl anthranilate as a bird repellent livestock feed additive. J. Wildl. Manage. 55 182-187. 

Mason, J.R., L. Clark T.P. Miller. 1993. Evaluation of a pelleted bait containing methyl anthranilate as a bird repellent. Pest. Sci. 39 299-304. 

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