How to keep birds away from strawberries. How to protect strawberries from birds and pests. Protecting beds from birds with netting

Gardeners and gardeners grow strawberries (or, more precisely, garden strawberries) wherever the climate allows. This is a very tasty berry. Unfortunately, both people and birds know about this. Starlings, thrushes, sparrows, magpies, and even crows enjoy eating both ripe and unripe berries. Summer residents, especially those who do not live on the site permanently, have nothing left. Therefore, it is important to know what you can do to protect your strawberry crop.

How to protect strawberries: mesh and covering material

The most common solution is to cover the strawberry beds with netting or covering material. All this can be purchased in construction and agricultural stores or on the Internet. Plastic, polypropylene or metal mesh with cells in the shape of diamonds, rectangles and squares does not interfere with access to sunlight and moisture to plants, as well as the process of pollination of strawberries by insects.

The mesh for beds is presented in stores in a wide range

Breathable, opaque covering material (Lutrasil, Spunbond, Agril, Agrospan) provides a greenhouse effect. Birds do not see the berries, and therefore do not try to get into the garden bed. But pollination in a natural way is impossible in this case. Without sun, strawberry bushes grow poorly, the berries take longer to ripen, and the harvest decreases. Excessive watering may cause plantings to rot.

Covering material allows you to hide the crop from birds

When closing the bed, pegs are driven in around the perimeter at intervals of 45–50 cm, onto which the material is attached so that it goes down to the ground. There it also needs to be fixed, for example, with bricks. Pull it quite tightly so that the mesh does not sag in the center. The height of the structure is 15–20 cm higher than the strawberry bushes.

Video: how to secure covering material to a garden bed?

Indeed, in this case it is problematic for birds to get to the berries, but the solution is not without its drawbacks:

You need to find a fairly dense fine mesh. An ordinary fishing rod will not work. Birds freely enter the cells. If the mesh is too thin, it will simply be torn. Consequently, finding the right material can take a lot of time and effort.
Price issue. If you have a small plot and 1-2 beds, you shouldn’t even think about it. And those who grow strawberries on an industrial scale must purchase covering material and netting in hundreds of square meters. It turns out to be quite expensive.
Caring for plantings becomes significantly more complicated. It is also impossible to walk through the garden, picking a couple of berries along the way. For any weeding, loosening, fertilizing, watering, or harvesting, the net and material must be removed and then the bed covered again. Such frequent use sharply reduces the service life of the material - holes are formed, which are immediately expanded by birds.
Birds that see tasty berries do not consider the netting a serious nuisance. Trying to get to them at all costs, they become entangled and stuck so that they cannot free themselves from the cells without outside help. We have to help people. Birds do not appreciate this and bite painfully.
An important factor is aesthetic. Just a net thrown over the beds looks very sloppy. This means you need to think about how to secure it beautifully. This means additional expenditure of effort, time and money.

The net stretched over the beds interferes with the normal care of strawberries and harvesting

The disadvantages can be partially mitigated by purchasing a set of special frame arches made of metal, plastic or bamboo. They are quite light, so no foundation is required. Their number depends on the length of the bed. The optimal distance between the arcs is 60–80 cm. They must be installed and the mesh secured on top - you should get a structure that resembles a section of a tunnel. If you find high enough arches, you can go inside, like into a greenhouse or greenhouse. This greatly facilitates planting care and harvesting. But the beds turn out to be very narrow.

When fruiting is over, the net is removed and the frame is dismantled until next year.

Therefore, the best solution is a net made of plastic, fine-mesh (so that the birds do not get confused), quite rigid (so as not to sag), attached to frame arches. Separate pieces will be needed to cover the resulting “tunnel” from the ends. Otherwise the design loses all meaning.

If you decide to use the mesh and arc method, the birds will not be able to reach the strawberries, and it will be convenient for you to care for the beds

Video: net for protecting strawberry beds

Boxes with mesh lids

Another option for protecting strawberries using a net does not have the listed disadvantages, but requires certain practical skills. If you have carpentry or joinery experience, build boxes with mesh lids for planting.

The algorithm of actions is as follows:

Select boards of suitable length and width.
Assemble a wooden box with crossbars every 60–80 cm, fastening the boards with screws and corner bars. There is no need to make it very high - ventilation worsens, the berries do not have enough sun. It is enough that the future cover does not touch the plantings. Other parameters are determined by the size of the bed.
Attach legs made of short bars to the box in each corner, sharpening them at the bottom. If the bed is very long, you will need additional legs on the long side. Since the legs will be driven into the ground, treat the tree with a special compound that prevents rotting. You can simply burn them.
Place the box on the bed and drive the legs into the ground, gently tapping the corners with a hammer.
Protect the structure from the negative effects of natural factors - rain, snow, cold, wind. A primer will help with this. It is sold in construction stores, but the composition prepared independently is no worse. 1 kg of slaked lime should be diluted in 2 liters of water and added 100 g of laundry soap shavings. All this is thoroughly mixed and filtered immediately before processing the boards.
Based on the dimensions of the resulting sections, assemble the frames for the lids from thin bars.
Attach the covers to the frame using hinged hinges installed on the outside so that it opens outward.
Cut out pieces of mesh of the required size and secure it with staples using a furniture stapler, bent small nails, and thin slats.
Attach a handle, loop or something else to each lid that allows it to be opened freely.

Beds in boxes look very neat and reliably protected

How can you scare birds?

Any methods common among people are not very useful. In the first few days the effect may be noticeable, but the birds are not stupid and quickly figure out what they are dealing with. Having discovered that something scary-looking poses no real danger, they boldly continue to destroy your berries.

Birds, flying into the garden in flocks, can destroy your harvest in a couple of days

Therefore, the methods described below should be alternated and combined as often as possible. This is the only way you will achieve a more or less permanent result.

Scarecrow

The “old-fashioned” method, used since time immemorial. Currently, the classic effigy of two cross-shaped poles or boards, dressed in old clothes stuffed with straw, with a bag representing the head, is practically not used for obvious reasons. The birds are not at all afraid of him. On the contrary, they happily rest on the “shoulders” of this structure after a delicious lunch. This is also an excellent position for looking out for the most delicious and ripe berries.

But your children will get great pleasure from the process of building a scarecrow. This is a great opportunity for them to show their imagination and creativity. You can use, for example, an old mannequin as a basis.

If you still decide to protect your beds with a scarecrow, regularly move it from place to place and change its appearance. The more radical, the better. It is also useful to secure the structure so that it rotates on a support.

Scarecrow is a traditional but ineffective method of scaring away birds

Somewhat more effective are plastic and rubber naturalistic models of birds of prey sold in agricultural stores, made in compliance with dimensions and proportions. Especially if they are “decorated” with something shiny and are accompanied by a device for reproducing and recording the sounds made by these birds.

An electrified mannequin equipped with a motion sensor, which would start making sounds and, for example, waving its “arms” when birds approach, would greatly help gardeners. But the introduction of such structures into production is a matter of the future. And the price will be appropriate. On small plots of land, such a “scarecrow” simply will not pay off.

Video: how to make a scarecrow?

Noise

Birds' hearing is much more subtle than that of humans. Therefore, they do not tolerate sharp loud sounds well. Try to save the beds like this:

Stretch several threads or thin wires over them and hang cans from them at different heights close to each other. A more aesthetic option is “wind music”. At the slightest breath, the jars and tubes will swing and hit each other, making noise. But you will have to endure it too. This is especially pleasing late at night or early in the morning. And every day, removing the cans and hanging them back will quickly get boring. In addition, the wind does not always blow.
Every day, turn on special audio recordings that reproduce the cries of birds of prey or the cries of feathered “pests”, signaling to relatives about danger. They are sold in gardening stores and online. If you want to save money, just turn the radio on loud. However, such sound will most likely not please your neighbors.

Color and shine

High posts are driven into the corners of the bed. A thin rope or wire is stretched around the perimeter and crosswise at different heights. They hang on it:

Old CDs and DVDs. Oscillating under gusts of wind, they reflect the sun's rays, throwing away “bunnies”. But in cloudy weather, birds hardly pay attention to them.
Unnecessary Christmas tree decorations, “rain” and tinsel, ordinary foil, as well as polyethylene or cellophane cut into “fringe”. In this case, the beds look elegant and festive. But if you overdo it with “decorations”, they are almost impossible to care for.
A tape extracted from an audio or video tape. It can be hung as a fringe and additionally pulled tightly around the perimeter, surrounding the bed several times. The tape not only shines and moves, but also makes a rattling sound that is unpleasant for birds at the slightest breath. It is almost on the verge of ultrasound, therefore it is almost inaudible to humans.
Bandages, white ribbons, flags and balloons filled with helium. There is an opinion that birds do not like the color white and are afraid of it. The balls can be made even more terrifying by painting something resembling an eye on them with red, blue or black paint.
Homemade pinwheels from plastic bottles. The plastic reflects light, and the structure rotates in the wind. This can be a spectacular addition to your garden decor.

Birds quickly understand that all this shine and rustle does not pose any real danger.

Old disks hanging over the garden bed glare in the sun, scaring away birds

Special devices

Science does not stand still, so special devices that scare away birds have appeared on sale. Most often, they are equipped with a built-in infrared or laser motion sensor, so they turn on only when a landing party of birds approaches.

The devices produce high-range sounds that are unpleasant to birds and inaudible to the human ear.

The device is equipped with a motion sensor

There are also devices that periodically emit loud, sharp sounds, reminiscent of a siren, claps or gunshots. Sometimes this is supplemented by flashing or glowing. On some, you can adjust the frequency and volume of the sound.

The sound gun makes loud noises when birds approach

Such devices are certainly effective, but are quite expensive. Therefore, owners of small plots of land do not even consider the possibility of such an acquisition. The harvest is not worth it; there are less expensive methods of protecting it.

Video: how to scare away birds

What to plant to distract attention?

Gardeners sympathetic to Greenpeace, IFAW and other wildlife organizations can offer birds an alternative source of food.

In a row with strawberry beds, berries are planted that ripen at about the same time as strawberries, the loss of which will upset you less. It can be bird cherry, sea buckthorn, serviceberry, chokeberry and red rowan, wild cherry. The method does not guarantee anything. Birds are not obligated to eat only the berries intended for them. It is very likely that they will destroy both them and the strawberries. But not a single bird will be harmed. Even morally, seeing the berries and not being able to get to them.

Other ways to protect berries

Cats in the garden will help you cope with uninvited guests

How else can you protect the crop grown with such difficulty?

The easiest way is to increase the planting area. This way there will be enough berries for both the birds and you. But not all summer residents are ready to share with the “freeloaders” the harvest, on the cultivation of which they spent so much time, effort and money. In fact, almost no one is ready, except for individual fanatical nature lovers.
Get a cat, or better yet several. Or at least periodically lure neighbor or stray animals to your place. To do this, you can, for example, plant valerian. Hunting, as a rule, is unsuccessful, but the very fact of the presence of natural enemies in the area will force the birds to be less impudent. A significant disadvantage is that animals carried away by the process of catching birds can trample the beds. And not only with strawberries. In addition, the presence of wild cats and small children on the property at the same time means the need for constant monitoring by their parents.
Birds of prey (hawks, falcons) are much better and more effective than cats. Crows are also useful in this sense. They do not trample the beds and do not feed on strawberries. Before visiting your site, a flock of birds sends “scouts” ahead. They will certainly inform others about those who protect your plantings, and will fly around the beds on the tenth route. However, maintaining one bird of prey is more expensive than ten cats.
Arrange a small stream, a waterfall, or a decorative fountain next to the strawberry plantings. Birds' hearing is much sharper than that of humans; they will certainly be attracted by coolness and murmuring water. There is a chance that, flocking to the water source, they will ignore the beds. But nothing prevents them, having rested in a pleasant place, then destroy your crop.
Place onion bulbs or onion feathers cut into several pieces on the strawberry beds. Birds really don't like this smell. The downside is that you have to endure it too. In addition, berries can also absorb the smell.
Before the strawberries ripen, scatter bright red wooden cubes, plastic bottle caps, and so on in and around the beds. Birds will try to peck them and find out that it is inedible. When the berries are ripe, the birds, remembering the absence of anything edible here, will pay less attention to your beds.
An option for the squeamish and strong-willed. Find a dead bird somewhere, bring it to your own plot and hang it next to the strawberry beds. This will help you get rid of birds not only for this season, but also for the next few years. It looks rather unaesthetic, in no way decorating the rural pastoral, and the smell is appropriate.
Placing poisonous baits on the site or total shooting of birds. An extremely unfortunate decision, even if you have the appropriate skills to prevent accidental hits on relatives, guests and neighbors, and the absence of pets, which can also be poisoned. Few people think about this, but in addition to the visible harm in the form of crop destruction, birds also bring significant benefits to the garden. In addition to berries, they feed on insect larvae and weed seeds. Now we have to fight them. By destroying birds, you will deprive insects of natural enemies, increasing their population significantly, and also doom yourself to endless weeding. This will require even more time and effort.

Garden strawberries are a widespread crop grown throughout the world. Long years of selection (strawberries have been grown since about 1300) have led to the fact that the harvest can be obtained even in the most unfavorable climate. Different ones differ in color, size and shape of the fruit, aroma, degree of fertility, period of flowering and ripening of berries, and degree of susceptibility to diseases. However, even inexperienced gardeners can grow this crop.

It cannot be said that it is an unpretentious plant, but if you follow certain rules, it will delight you with a high yield. The question really arises: “How to save the harvest from birds?” All birds eat ripe and sweet fruits with great pleasure, and sometimes are content with unripe ones. In any case, there is practically nothing left for the person. Therefore, protecting strawberries from birds becomes a top priority. There are quite a few methods, it remains to determine which one will be the most effective.

How to protect strawberries from birds using a special net

Mechanical protection is the most radical and, perhaps, the most effective method. Bird netting for strawberries is available at any farm store. It is made of plastic, most often polypropylene, with square or diamond-shaped small cells. Such a network protects the crop from birds, while not preventing the penetration of water and sunlight to the plants. In addition, such protection does not interfere with plant pollination; the net does not need to be removed during spraying.

How to protect strawberries from birds using a scarecrow

Representing a straw bag with a hat and broom arms, it is practically not used today. Birds get used to it very quickly and soon stop reacting to it. A much more effective method of repelling would be thin cellophane tapes that sway with the slightest breath of wind. For the same purpose, you can use old cassette tapes, which not only sway, but also shimmer in the sun.

How to Protect Strawberries from Birds Using Noise

Garden rattles or carbide guns that fire at regular intervals work well at first, but over time the birds get used to loud and sharp sounds. You can periodically change the frequency of noise effects, but this technique requires constant human control.

How to Protect Strawberries from Birds Using Diversion Crops

This method of protection is the most humane in relation to birds, and all nature lovers should appreciate it. In order to distract birds from garden strawberries, you can plant several fruit trees on your plot: bird cherry, sea buckthorn, wild cherry. The disadvantage of this method is that there is no guarantee that the birds will choose to eat only the berries intended for them.

The most unsuccessful method was considered to be total extermination, when birds are poisoned or shot. The effect is either zero or leads to the exact opposite result - a lot of insect pests appear on the beds, which destroy all the fruits at an even greater speed.

In recent years, birds have become a real disaster for summer residents. As soon as the side of the strawberry turns red, it immediately becomes an object of encroachment by birds. And what can we say about the massive ripening of berries!

Strawberries are considered one of the most beloved and labor-intensive berries to grow. To get a good harvest, it requires special care: feed in the spring and after fruiting, pluck off the tendrils that grow in incredible quantities by leaps and bounds, water in dry weather, remove old yellowed leaves, trim the foliage after harvesting. In addition, it is necessary to update every 3-4 years so that the variety does not degenerate and the berries do not become small. Having spent a lot of effort caring for strawberry beds, naturally I would like to get a good return, but an invasion of voracious birds can confuse all plans. Moreover, they choose the ripest berries or those that are reddened on one side. There have been especially many birds lately. If a whole flock arrives, there is a chance that you will be left without any berries. Gardeners are forced to save their strawberry plantings from birds as best they can. We offer several ways to protect strawberries from birds.

Using covering material

This is a very effective way. As soon as the berries begin to turn red, you need to throw it on the garden bed. The birds don't see, and the neighbors don't envy. To harvest strawberries, you need to pull out the stakes on one side, collect the crop and hide it again from all eyes.

Net

This is the most effective method of scaring away birds and protecting berries. However, there are a number of disadvantages here. Firstly, such a grid needs to be found somewhere. There is not always a suitable one on sale. Then, when the harvest is ripe, the net can be removed for a while. Well, what if you just want to eat a few berries from the garden? It is not very convenient to open the mesh every time. And from an aesthetic point of view, a bed of strawberries covered with a net doesn’t look very good.

Other ways to protect strawberries from birds

A very interesting way is to scare away birds using old and unnecessary DVDs or CDs or cut-up strips of foil. To do this, holes are punched along the edge of the disks, twine is threaded, and then everything is hung next to the beds. Shiny objects moving in the wind, shimmering brightly in the sun, scare away birds.

Rattles for repelling birds

Another way to protect strawberries from birds with your own hands is to make a rattle. You can make it from any unnecessary objects that can make noise when colliding with each other. For example, tying empty beer cans together. In the wind they will rattle loudly and scare away birds with the noise. But what if there is no wind?

Garden scarecrow

Let's look at how to protect strawberries from birds (photo above) using a garden scarecrow. There are great opportunities for creativity here with the whole family. You can put old unnecessary clothes on a frame made of two boards knocked together in the shape of a cross. Then fill it with straw or old newspapers. Most often, a garden scarecrow is given the appearance of a person, but sometimes it is made in the form of a bird of prey, which will scare away birds and protect the crop. The most effective garden scarecrows are those in which something moves as it sways in the wind. There are very funny kits on sale that consist of a plastic eagle owl and a CD recording of the sounds that this bird makes. This double effect does a good job of repelling birds.

Among other methods on how to protect strawberries from birds, there are various traps from which you can later release the birds away from the garden, and all kinds of chemical means of protection. Stores also sell electronic devices that make sounds audible only to birds. They scare them away from the garden. Another way to protect strawberries from birds? You can simply turn on the radio on the site - loud sounds are good at scaring away birds.

And the last way to protect strawberries from birds (photo) is to plant more strawberry bushes so that there are enough berries for both you and the birds. This is the best method; unfortunately, it is not possible for owners of small plots.

In our organization, Mikhalych works as a truck driver - a master of his craft, a workaholic and my good friend. He lives in his private house in the suburbs. Like any decent owner of a private house, he has a garden, a vegetable garden and keeps some domestic animals. In Mikhalych’s garden, among other things, there are several relatively young cherry trees that began bearing fruit seven or eight years ago. However, during all this time, Mikhalych never managed to enjoy his own cherries...

The reason for this turned out to be cute, but extremely harmful birds - fieldfare. Having settled in the nearest forest belt, they became a real disaster for local gardeners, regularly raiding their gardens and pecking out more or less berries that had begun to ripen.

And he is!

For several years in a row after his cherries began to bear fruit, Mikhalych alone tried unsuccessfully to resist this feathered scourge; however, every year a flock of blackbirds gained the upper hand, almost completely depriving him of his harvest. Therefore, when three years ago, driven to the point of “white heat,” Mikhalych complained in a conversation about his “offenders,” I simply could not leave my friend in trouble and agreed to provide him with all possible help.

The behavior of these birds seemed very unusual to us, completely different from what the average person who is far from ornithology imagines. Much later, while studying this issue on some forum on the Internet, we came across a statement from our “colleague in misfortune”, comparing a pack of these malware with an “organized criminal group (OCG)”. From our own experience, we have become convinced that it is impossible to characterize them more accurately. One got the impression that we were waging a war not against some “brainless birds,” but against “specific boys” from the 1990s - experienced warriors who were discharged from the army and joined the ranks of various gangster groups.

At first glance, the tactics of these extremely intelligent birds seem almost incredible. First, one or two “air reconnaissance officers” appear from the “main location” (i.e., a forest belt), firstly, choosing the next “object of attack” (a bush or tree on which hangs the largest number of very ripe berries), and secondly, secondly, checking whether there are any dangers along the route to the selected object. "Air reconnaissance aircraft" almost never fly directly to their favorite tree. Having sat somewhere nearby (on the branches of neighboring trees, a fence, garden buildings), they carefully observe the surrounding area for several minutes. At this time, you can sometimes hear their “negotiations” - a short series of crackling sounds reminiscent of the cries of a magpie (only more melodious). Having made sure that the chosen object of robbery is really worthy of their attention, and there are no signs of danger around it, the “scouts” silently fly back to the forest belt. A few minutes after they safely return to their relatives, the entire flock (in our case - a dozen and a half birds) quickly and silently - in the most gangster manner - flies from the forest belt to the scouted place, after which they just as quickly and silently begin to eat.

It seems to be an idyllic landscape: peaceful blue sky, beautiful white clouds...

But if you take a closer look, then here he is - an ENEMY SCOUT!

The gluttony of these birds breaks all records. It has long been known that all birds are generally distinguished by a high metabolism (fast metabolism) - but, after observing feasting thrushes, the thought involuntarily creeps into your head that there is a real nuclear reactor inside them. A dozen birds in a day are quite capable of completely stripping a large fruit-bearing tree. At the same time, they do everything quickly and clearly - no noise, hubbub, fights or fluttering, which is typical, for example, of crows or jackdaws. The notorious advice of some gardeners who do not encounter thrushes on their plots - “pick the berries as they ripen, and the thrushes will have nothing to eat” - even after a short acquaintance with these gluttons begins to seem not just naive, but mocking. Having excellent color discrimination and being naturally very smart, blackbirds have an excellent understanding of which berries in front of them are ripe or not very ripe. First of all, don’t be fools, they peck out the ripest ones, ending the feast with fruits of medium ripeness. And if we take into account the almost constant presence of their “scouts” in the garden and regular raids four to five times an hour, it becomes clear that they simply do not leave the gardener a single chance to get ahead.

We tried for the first time to ward off these annoying birds from Mikhalychev’s garden in the summer of 2014. Having no prior experience in fighting blackbirds and unaware of their overwhelming impudence, we, of course, started with the simplest - the “classic” methods of scaring away birds - stuffed animals, pinwheels, balloons and CDs. How deeply we were mistaken when we seriously counted on these “means”!

First of all, Mikhalych attempted to make a scarecrow from a set of stakes, slats, a bag of sawdust, an old robe and a hat - successful in terms of results (the scarecrow succeeded), but absolutely useless in essence (it did not help). On the first day after installing the scarecrow, the blackbird “scouts” were really afraid to approach the trees, under which stood something that looked like a person. According to Mikhalych’s household, their alarming chatter was constantly heard. However, the very next morning the damage done to the cherry tree was obvious.

Our response was to visit the local FixPrice store, which sells cheap Chinese consumer goods, and purchase several windmills made of colored film, which were attached to the fence and on stakes driven into the ground around the cherry trees. The second attempt ended in an even greater failure than the first - the feathered insolent people stopped paying attention to the flickering nonsense by the end of the first day.

After this, several days were spent on experiments with balloons, which also did not end in anything good. The blackbirds reacted to the balls fixed in place of the windmills in the same way as they did to the windmills - that is, in no way, and when attaching the balls directly to the branches of the cherry tree, it was found that under the influence of even weak gusts of wind, the balls are pricked into small twigs and twigs, therefore " project" was canceled by the authors themselves.

A very popular “advice” on the Internet was the recommendation to hang computer CDs on the branches of bird-proof trees, in contrast to balls that are not afraid of being pinned on branches, rotating on the suspension even from a light breeze and releasing bright sun glare in all directions. No sooner said than done! The next day, upon arriving at work, I carried out an audit in the box with CDs, as a result of which two dozen unnecessary branded disks with Kaspersky Anti-Virus from the “boxed versions” that had once been purchased for the entire office were discovered. The disks were handed to Mikhalych with a recommendation to hang them so that nothing would interfere with their rotation... This was one of those rare cases when even the vaunted Kaspersky turned out to be absolutely powerless against a new variety of “feathered viruses”.

From the magazine “My Beautiful Dacha”, another “recipe” for scaring away birds was gleaned, which consists of attaching children’s soft toys to tree branches, which, according to the author of the article, were supposed to remind the birds of cats lurking in the tree. Somewhere in the attic, Mikhalych managed to find several old soft toys left by his grown-up granddaughter - a small brown bear, a hare and someone else. But either these smart thrushes can distinguish between animal species, or they instinctively distinguish living objects from non-living ones, but this method also did not bring any useful effect.

The Gardener-Gardener store recommended a special fine-mesh net made of synthetic threads as the most effective means of protecting fruits from damage by birds. After some deliberation, it was decided to purchase a roll of net and see how it performs. Perhaps such a network could be a solution to the problem, if not for two shortcomings of its use, identified during “field tests”. Firstly, to provide at least some effective protection, you need not just a lot of netting, but a lot of it - that is, the trees need to be wrapped in it, as they say, “at the root.” In the case of a simple attack on a tree from above or from the side, our feathered intellectuals, after several unsuccessful attempts to get to the ripening berries in the usual way, learned to very cleverly crawl under the net from below. Secondly, the net poses a danger to various small birds such as sparrows, wagtails, flycatchers and the like, which either do not cause any harm to fruit trees at all, or cause very minimal harm. Having become accustomed to “loitering” in the treetops, small fry become entangled in the meshes of the net and die. After removing the third or fourth “hanged man” from the weave of synthetic threads, Mikhalych felt so sorry for them that he, giving up on the cherry, simply removed the net.

It goes without saying that while we were coming up with all these tricks for the blackbirds, the birds wasted no time and were closely engaged in our cherries. Thus, by the end of the protective net test, we lost the battle for the harvest in the first season with a score of 5:0 in favor of the blackbirds. It became clear that, in the language of professional military theorists, “remaining within the framework of an outdated concept, we will never be able to defeat the enemy.” And anyway, it’s the twenty-first century - what kind of stuffed animals, what are you talking about?! You provide the use of the latest means from the sphere of “high technology”!

Starting from the first days of June next year, 2015, Mikhalych and I, taught by bitter experience, began to study various technical devices specifically designed to scare away birds. After a couple of days of surfing the Internet in my free time, it became clear that, if you do not take into account the anti-additive devices that are meaningless in our conditions (it’s like wrapping a tree with barbed wire) and various extreme options like a metal mesh, to which If a current of several thousand volts is supplied, almost 95% of the market for such devices consists of electronic sound bird repellers.

The choice of repeller models is very diverse, as they say, “for every taste and color” - from the cheap (relatively) Chinese “noname” for 5 thousand rubles, which, according to the instructions, continuously emits ultrasound, to “professional” devices with motion sensors costing about 25 thousand rubles. I, of course, am not a professional ornithologist and do not pretend to be the ultimate truth, but the very principle of repelling birds with ultrasound raised great doubts in me. From everything that I have ever heard or read, we can conclude that, in terms of their “technical characteristics,” human sensory organs are much closer to birds than to mammals. And in humans, as is known, ultrasound does not cause any discomfort. Therefore, I thought that spending even 5 thousand rubles on the purchase of a device, the effectiveness of which is absent, and the result of use is of a guessing nature, does not make sense. The point here is not even whether this is a lot or a little - the asking price for the device is five thousand - but the fact that with this money our Mikhalych can easily buy himself several buckets of cherries, without bothering at all with its protection. But buying cherries when there are plenty of them in your own garden, recognizing the victory of small feathered pests, is already too much. Looking further, just out of interest, without any hope of application, the options for various repellers, I came across a professional model that scares away birds with the cries of other birds - birds of prey.

But this is an idea! It can’t be that these blackbirds aren’t afraid of anyone or anything at all? And who in natural conditions is their most terrible enemy? Obviously, any large birds of prey they know, the fear of which is programmed at the level of instincts... Since the option of using a tame bird of prey looks even more utopian than the option of buying a professional repeller for 25 thousand rubles, there is nothing left but to use some device that will simulate the presence of predators nearby; at the same time, it is highly desirable that it be as cheap as possible - or, ideally, completely free.

Having strained my memory a little, I decided that I might be able to find such a device, and went down to the basement - to the warehouse. After rummaging around there a little, I found an old, decommissioned Toshiba Satellite A40 laptop, manufactured in 2002. For those who like details, I can tell you that this miracle is equipped with a 15-inch screen, a Pentium 4 processor with a frequency of 2.4 GHz, 256 MB of RAM and a 40 GB hard drive. The preinstalled operating system is Windows XP Home. Oddly enough, the “machine” turned out to be running, which, however, was what I was counting on - after all, it was written off, apparently, not because of obsolescence or technical wear and tear, but because of the most typical damage for laptops - a cracked screen. The previous owner of the laptop had probably dropped it off the table, so that about a third of the screen's surface, adjacent to the upper right corner, was a solid black "blob". It’s clear that after this you can safely forget not only about the convenience of work, but also about its very possibility on such a laptop. Well, this won’t hurt us at all.

You can see a large black spot (damage to the matrix) of the laptop screen with rays of cracks emanating from it.

Now it was necessary to decide by what criteria the laptop should “give a voice.” On the websites of specialized companies that protect large objects such as airfields/stations/stadiums from birds, one very often comes across the statement that the presentation of startling sound signals should be random so that the birds being scared away do not develop an addiction to uniformly given signals. To be honest, I was about to “cook up on my knees” a primitive program based on a random number generator; however, an evening visit to Mikhalych with subsequent observation of his “wards” forced him to abandon this idea. The fact is that the above method is justified only if the birds live in a protected area. Our blackbirds only quickly visit the garden to feed, so if the random number generator initiates the second signal about forty minutes after the first, the birds will have time to check all the trees, select the ripest berries and calmly leave the garden. Considering the frequency with which their “scouts” appeared in the garden, it became clear that talking about time intervals exceeding ten minutes was simply useless.

On other sites I came across descriptions of repeller models equipped with motion sensors. The idea is, of course, very sensible (why yell constantly if you can give a signal only at the moment of the immediate appearance of feathered robbers?), but in our case it is very difficult to implement, as they say, “on the knee”, since to connect the motion sensor to the laptop you will need both a specialized adapter and the corresponding software. However, for the sake of “sporting interest,” we carried out a “draft version” of the experiment - without any connection to a laptop, purely with the goal of determining whether it makes sense to further develop this direction. At work, I borrowed an infrared motion sensor from the popular Camelion LX-39/Wh model (very mediocre, but, as they say, “the rich are the happy”). Based on this sensor, a simple circuit was assembled with a household electric bell as an actuator. The purpose of the experiment was to find out whether the motion sensor is suitable for possible further use in a bird scaring system. The results obtained were disappointing - on a sunny summer day, in the heat, the motion sensor installed at a distance of three meters from the tree trunk did not react at all to such small objects as birds landing on the crown. Its sensitivity expectedly improved in the early morning and evening hours, as well as when the sensor was placed in the shade, but still remained within the “plus or minus bast” range. We can only hope that professional bird scarers are still equipped with much more sensitive motion sensors than a regular household “human” sensor. Detecting a mouse running across the floor, as mentioned in many reviews of IR motion sensors posted on the Internet, was not science fiction for the sensor we tested - except perhaps in a cool, dark basement, on a concrete floor, and from a distance of one meter.

Thus, the simplest and most reliable option was to make the laptop constantly “speak” at a predetermined interval of several minutes. True, the problem of our experimental subjects’ possible adaptation to the same type of sounds remained. Considering that the period of the most active “defense” of the cherry lasts about a week and a half (maximum, taking into account bad weather - two), it was decided to be content with changing the sounds made by the laptop.

For this purpose, we will visit the electronic version of the bird identification guide for central Russia. [link, www.ornithologist.ru]

There are a large number of different bird identifiers on the Internet, but the above one is valuable because you can download samples of the calls of the birds represented on it without any problems. So, we are interested, first of all, in files with recordings of the voices of large and medium-sized daytime predators - hawks (goshawk and sparrowhawk), falcons (peregrine falcon and saker falcon, there is also the voice of a gyrfalcon, but this is a polar falcon, and we don’t have it) , kites (black and red). “To the heap” you can add the voices of buzzards - the common buzzard and the buzzard. The rest of the “contingent” does not suit us - they are either too large (eagles), or, conversely, too small predators (kestrels, falcon, hobby), or “specialists” in other game (harriers, ospreys, eagles).

We download mp3 files with the voices of the listed birds, giving them “meaningful” names in Latin - for example, Teterevjatnik.mp3 or Baloban.mp3, so as not to get confused in the future. We transfer them to some convenient place (I placed them right in the “root” of the logical drive D:). There we also create ordinary text files according to the number of bird voices, rename them, for example, to bird_1(2/3/...) and forcefully change the extension to cmd. In the files themselves we insert approximately the following text:

ping 127.0.0.1 -n 338 >nul
start "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe" D:\Teterevjatnik.mp3
start D:\bird_2.cmd
exit

The meaning of this command file is as follows: the computer is asked to ping the address 127.0.0.1 (i.e. itself), and after a period of 338 (-n 338) seconds has elapsed (standard ping in case of a response is repeated every second), play it using a standard media player mp3 file with the cry of a goshawk, at the same time launching the command file bird_2.cmd for execution, and then complete the work (meaning the work of the first command file).

Where did the value of 338 seconds come from? This is an interval of 5 minutes of 60 seconds plus the duration of the recording with a hawk cry (in my case - 38 seconds). Of course, the duration of different records is also different, so the corresponding value should be recalculated and recorded in each file. If a virtual saker falcon screams for, say, 20 seconds, then in the corresponding command file you should specify the value -n 320, etc. If you do not do this and set the same intervals, over time the recordings will be played closer and closer to each other each other on time, and, after a couple of hours, all your virtual predators will scream at the same time.

There can be any number of such files, the main thing is that there is a cycle; in other words, the last batch file must contain a link to the first file. After this, all that remains is to add the shortcut to the first batch file (bird_1.cmd) to “Startup”.

Practice has shown that the most effective sequence is: “goshawk - peregrine falcon - black kite - sparrowhawk - saker falcon - red kite” at intervals of 5 to 10 minutes.

While I was working on the laptop, Mikhalych attached to a wooden table standing not far from the cherries a “basement floor” under the tabletop, where he planned to install the laptop with the lid not completely lowered, and covered the tabletop itself with packaging film hanging down along the edges.

Place for laptop.

Laptop being tested.

This is how, thanks to our joint efforts, Mikhalych managed to harvest cherries for the first time in the last seven years. After the cry of a hawk coming from the laptop, the enemy scout considered it best to retreat...

Various comments and clarifications that arose as a result of testing the laptop, as well as plans for the future.

You should not set the maximum speaker volume in the audio system settings. The volume should be such that it can be heard within the protected object plus a few meters in each direction. If the volume is so high that the screams of predators can be heard by blackbirds even in their permanent habitats, then they will still not abandon their nests because of this, but they will get used to the screams.
It is also worth taking seriously the choice of the location of the laptop and the volume level of its speakers, so as not to injure poultry (chickens, ducks, guinea fowl, pigeons). If your own or your neighbor’s chickens hear the screams of feathered predators every 5-10 minutes, then they are guaranteed to be “nervous” on the second day, and small chickens/ducklings may even die from fright.
If you see sparrows (and similar little things) right next to a laptop screaming loudly, do not make hasty conclusions about the inefficiency of the system. To scare away such small fry, the voices of other predators (kestrels, falcon, hobbies, pygmy owls) are needed, since no self-respecting goshawk would chase such insignificant and nimble prey.
You can significantly increase the efficiency of the system if you manage to find not only the voices of predators, but also the alarming cries of the species of birds that you are going to scare away, and “dilute” your “concert” with them.
There is also an idea to use the laptop's built-in webcam as a motion sensor, but this is work for the future.

Comments

I haven’t tested the effectiveness of repelling yet, I’ll start the experiment tomorrow

We forgot about one more (successful, judging by the review) experiment performed by a Random Passerby (see here, comment No. 24):

> [...] Every year in the summer, crows (which are black) with their offspring on the high-voltage line get into the habit of sitting in the morning. [...] At 3 o’clock the sun rises and at half past four or five they sit on a support and start yelling. [...] I downloaded the calls of all sorts of birds of prey from the Internet and played them at 5 am. From the screams of the black kite, they crap themselves and jumped down. So what do you think? So falcons or kites flew in and began to fuck the crows and crows. They immediately hide in the bushes and bushes and bushes towards the forest, scattering bricks along the way [...]

R666 your man	23.06.2019 01:47
>..forgot about one more thing.. Oh, yes - yes! Sorry.. Maybe there will be some more information on this occasion? There is an assumption that the direction of the experiments is still correct. Birds react to the reproduced calls of natural enemies, and with significant high-frequency components. >.. with added 1-2-3 min intervals.. Saddam, I’m also inclined to think that when even a fairly long phonogram is played on a loop, listeners get the idea that “something is too right here.” So you still need a random delay generator and/or a phonogram fragment switch. Something like this...

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Strawberries, as a crop, require constant care. To get a bountiful harvest, the plant must be regularly watered, fertilized, removed, etc. Therefore, it is extremely disappointing when berry beds are attacked by voracious birds. The main winged pests are starlings, sparrows, magpies, tits and pigeons. Moreover, they are concerned not only with strawberries, but also with raspberries, currants, cherries, cherries and other garden crops. A flock of birds can destroy a crop in a matter of hours, so there is a problem. The confrontation could drag on for the entire summer season.

How to protect strawberries from birds? Gardeners' arsenal is constantly being replenished with new means of protecting the strawberry harvest from winged thieves. Each method has both its pros and cons. Some remedies are improved over time, and the least effective ones are forgotten. There are several effective methods for protecting crops from birds. Choose the one that suits you best.

Protecting beds from birds with netting

The most common solution is to cover the beds with netting. You can purchase it at construction or agricultural stores. A plastic, polypropylene or metal mesh with cells does not interfere with access to sunlight and moisture to plants, as well as the process of pollination of strawberries by insects. Cover the beds with a net around the perimeter, securing it to pegs driven in advance at intervals of 50 cm so that the net does not sag. The height of the structure should be 15-20 cm higher than the strawberry bushes.

Disadvantages of the method:

✿ You need to find a fairly dense fine mesh. An ordinary fishing rod will not work. Birds freely enter the cells. If the mesh is too thin, it will simply be torn.
✿ Care of plantings becomes significantly more difficult. It is also impossible to walk through the garden, picking a couple of berries along the way. For any weeding, loosening, fertilizing, watering, or harvesting, the net and material must be removed and then the bed covered again. Such frequent use sharply reduces the service life of the material - holes are formed, which are immediately expanded by birds.
✿ Birds that see delicious berries do not consider the netting a serious obstacle. Trying to get to them at all costs, they become entangled and stuck so that they cannot free themselves from the cells without outside help. We have to help people. Birds do not appreciate this and bite painfully.
✿ An important factor is aesthetic. Just a net thrown over the beds looks very sloppy. This means you need to think about how to secure it beautifully. This means additional expenditure of effort, time and money.

The disadvantages can be partially mitigated by purchasing a set of special frame arches made of metal, plastic or bamboo. They are quite light, so no foundation is required. Their number depends on the length of the bed. The optimal distance between the arcs is 70 cm. They need to be installed and the mesh secured on top - you should get a structure that resembles a section of a tunnel. If you find high enough arches, you can go inside, like into a greenhouse or greenhouse. This greatly facilitates planting care and harvesting. But the beds turn out to be very narrow. When fruiting is over, the net is removed and the frame is dismantled until next year.

Boxes with mesh lids

This option for protecting strawberries using a net does not have the disadvantages listed above, but requires certain practical skills. If you have experience in carpentry or joinery, build boxes with mesh lids for planting:

♦ Select boards of suitable length and width.
♦ Assemble a wooden box with crossbars every 60 cm, fastening the boards with screws and corner bars. There is no need to make it very high - ventilation worsens, the berries do not have enough sun. It is enough that the future cover does not touch the plantings. Other parameters are determined by the size of the bed.
♦ Attach legs from short bars to the box in each corner, sharpening them at the bottom. If the bed is very long, you will need additional legs on the long side. Since the legs will be driven into the ground, treat the tree with a special compound that prevents rotting. You can simply burn them.
♦ Place the box on the bed and drive the legs into the ground, gently tapping the corners with a hammer.
♦ Protect the structure from the negative effects of natural factors - rain, snow, cold, wind. A primer will help with this - ready-made or prepared independently: 1 kg of slaked lime should be diluted in 2 liters of water and added 100 g of laundry soap shavings. All this is thoroughly mixed and filtered immediately before processing the boards.
♦ Based on the dimensions of the resulting sections, assemble the frames for the lids from thin bars.
♦ Attach the covers to the frame using hinges installed on the outside so that it opens outward.
♦ Cut out pieces of mesh of the required size and secure it with staples using a furniture stapler, bent small nails, and thin slats.
♦ Attach a handle, hinge, or something else to each lid that allows it to be opened freely.

Scarecrow

This “old-fashioned” method is still popular today. The classic scarecrow: made from two cross-shaped poles or boards, dressed in old clothes stuffed with straw, with a bag representing the head, is practically not used for obvious reasons. The birds are not at all afraid of him. On the contrary, they happily rest on the “shoulders” of this structure after a delicious lunch. This is also an excellent position for looking out for the most delicious and ripe berries. Therefore, the process of creating a stuffed animal should be approached with creativity and ingenuity. But everyone, especially children, will get great pleasure from the process of building a scarecrow. Read how to make a garden scarecrow with your own hands.

Noise as protection from birds

Birds' hearing is much more subtle than that of humans. Therefore, they are frightened by sharp loud sounds. Stretch several threads or thin wires over them and hang cans from them at different heights close to each other. A more aesthetic option is “wind music”. At the slightest breath, the jars and tubes will swing and hit each other, making noise. But you will have to endure it too. This is especially pleasing late at night or early in the morning. And every day, removing the cans and hanging them back will quickly get boring. In addition, the wind does not always blow.

You can also turn on special audio recordings every day that reproduce the cries of birds of prey or the cries of feathered “pests”, signaling to relatives about danger. They are sold in gardening stores and online. If you want to save money, just turn the radio on loud. However, such sound will most likely not please your neighbors.

A brilliant way to keep birds out

Glare in the sun and rustling objects scare away voracious birds. True, the birds quickly understand that all this shine and rustle does not pose any real danger. However, many gardeners continue to use this method, since it is the most budget-friendly.

♦ Old CDs and DVDs. Oscillating under gusts of wind, they reflect the sun's rays, throwing away “bunnies”. But in cloudy weather, birds hardly pay attention to them.

♦ Unnecessary Christmas tree decorations, “rain” and tinsel, ordinary foil, as well as polyethylene or cellophane cut into “fringe”. In this case, the beds look elegant and festive. But if you overdo it with “decorations”, they are almost impossible to care for.

♦ A tape extracted from an audio or video cassette. It can be hung as a fringe and additionally pulled tightly around the perimeter, surrounding the bed several times. The tape not only shines and moves, but also makes a rattling sound that is unpleasant for birds at the slightest breath. It is almost on the verge of ultrasound, therefore it is almost inaudible to humans.

♦ Bandages, white ribbons, flags and balloons filled with helium. There is an opinion that birds do not like the color white and are afraid of it. Balloons can be given an even more terrifying look by painting something resembling an eye on them with red, blue or black paint.

♦ Homemade pinwheels made from plastic bottles. The plastic reflects light, and the structure rotates in the wind. This can be a spectacular addition to your garden decor.

Bird repellent devices

Nowadays there are special devices on sale that scare away birds. Most often, they are equipped with a built-in infrared or laser motion sensor, so they turn on only when a landing party of birds approaches. The devices produce high-range sounds that are unpleasant to birds and inaudible to the human ear.