Falcons reduce pre-harvest food safety risks and crop damage from wild birds

Foodborne illness outbreaks have heightened pressures on growers to improve food safety, including mitigating possible threats from wildlife. Among wildlife, birds are particularly challenging to deter, and the risks they pose to pre-harvest food safety remain unclear. Further, deterrence efforts can jeopardize conservation and biological control, necessitating strategies that effectively lead to co-management of farmlands for conservation, pest control, and pre-harvest food safety. Promotion of birds of prey with nest boxes may be one promising strategy to promote species of conservation concern that can deter pest birds that damage crops and introduce foodborne pathogens. Here, we evaluate if the American kestrel (Falco sparverius), a small falcon, can concurrently reduce crop damage and pre-harvest food safety risks from birds in sweet cherry orchards in Michigan, USA. In orchards with and without active kestrel nest boxes, we conducted avian transect surveys, estimated the percentag..., , # Falcons reduce pre-harvest food safety risks and crop damage from wild birds

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.9w0vt4bv8](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9w0vt4bv8)

## Description of the data and file structure

Data S1. Pathogen testing data: This file contains data pertaining to testing avian fecal samples for *Campylobacter* using both culturing and PCR approaches. It also provides bird identification data linked to each sample.

Data S2. Transect survey data: This file contains avian density estimates from transect surveys.

Data S3. Percent branches with feces: This file contains data on the number of avian fecal droppings on focal branches on cherry trees. It also provides data on the number of droppings with *Campylobacter.*

Data S4. Damage data: This file provides estimates on the percentage of cherries with vertebrate damage.

### Files and variables

#### File: Data_S1_Pathogen_testing_data.csv

**Description:** **This file contains data pertaining to testing avian fecal samples ...,