Maya Bird as Rice Pest

Maya bird or Eurasian tree sparrow is the most common bird to see in the Philippines, both in urban and rural areas. It is also common in many other East Asian countries. A few decades ago, it was the "national bird" in the country, until it was replaced by the Philippine eagle, or the monkey-eating eagle, possibly the biggest eagle specie worldwide.

Maya is considered a pest by many rice farmers. They eat the young and immature rice, or suck fuids in them. Here's a rice straw felled by birds. Notice the lower portion of the straw on the right, near empty, some rice fall on the ground.

The birds are small but they come on a big group, at least 10 or 20, and more. So when they land on these young rice straws, the latter can lean, if not fall to the ground, like they were blown by a strong wind.

The rice field in front of our treehouse in the farm. Photos taken yesterday, except the first photo, taken from the web.

Compared to rats though, maya are second or third serious pests; the other serious pests are the kuhol which mature as helix pomatia, grasshoppers, or even wild ducks. It depends on the season. The rats attack day and night and they can hardly be seen, while the maya attack only at day time, and one can see them. But they just hop and hide from the trees, and swoop on the ricefields.

The most common solution to maya attack is having a wooden statue with dress that looks like a person in the middle of the rice field, or a long string/small rope with cans or other noisy things tied in the middle. When the rope or string is pulled, it creates noise and scares the maya.
-------------

See also:
Vegetable Plots in the Farm, April 17, 2011 
Rice Farms, July 11, 2012 
Rice Terraces, Cool Crops, from Agrarian World, August 02, 2013
Water Impounding and Irrigation, December 05, 2013