Fruit eating birds can cause serious damage to your crops.
If left uncontrolled, they’ll eat their way through your orchard before you get a chance to pick a single fruit. You can choose from a number of different strategies in attempts to keep the birds away from your crop, but they all come with unavoidable disadvantages.
That is, all of them except for Falcon FrightKites.
Below, we’ve broken down some common pest control options and why Falcon FrightKites are a better option.
The Netting Method
This method can be expensive, but it takes a lot of work and a lot of money to pull off properly.
It involves covering your trees or vines with bird netting. You drape this netting over the plants and secure it to the ground at the bottom so the birds can’t get to the fruit.
While this might sound good, it takes a lot of work to set up. If the netting is up against the fruit, the birds can eat the fruit through the netting. Because of this, you might have to build individual frames around each plant.
If you have a lot of time and money to spend on bird netting, this can be a good option. But it’s not an effective choice for trees and vines that are still doing a lot of growing.
The Windmill Method
Putting a number of small windmills throughout your orchard can scare off the birds. The spinning blades catch the light and give the appearance of a flock of birds suddenly taking flight.
In order for this method to work, you have to move the windmills to different parts of your orchard every few days. If you don’t move them, the birds will get used to them and eat the fruit anyway.
Spending all the time moving them can turn into a hassle.
The Sound Method
You can broadcast predator sounds or bird distress sounds in your orchard to scare birds away. You can either go one step further and set up decoys of their natural predators, such as owls.
The problem is you can’t play these sounds continuously or the birds will learn not to be afraid of them. On top of that, you have to move them around your crop to keep the birds afraid.
The Distraction Method
Some people believe giving the birds a different food source will keep them from getting into the orchard. You can put other food, like corn or bird seed, in your yard.
But this doesn’t always work. Just because the birds have more food doesn’t guarantee they’ll stay out of your fruit.
What Makes Falcon FrightKites More Effective for Fruit eating Birds?
Falcon FrightKites work better than these other bird control options. They’re a lot easier to set up and they’re a lot cheaper too.
But what are they?
We design our FrightKites to look similar to normal falcons. Because of their color, wings, tail, feet, eyes, and overall shape, birds can’t tell the difference between falcons and the kites.
A FrightKite can glide, hover, dive, and climb in randomized paths that make it look like they’re hunting. When birds see a FrightKite, they’ll turn around right away and fly somewhere else.
FrightKites are also less expensive than netting and less labor intensive than windmills or broadcastings. Once you set up your FrightKite, it will launch and fly around your crop on its own. In fact, our studies show that FrightKites have a 95-100% success rate for any orchard.
Are you interested in buying your own FrightKite to scare away fruit eating birds? Click here to see some of our options.