If you just finished planting your garden and your trees and shrubs are ripe with fruit, you should think seriously about bird control. If you don't, you'll be in for a rude awakening when pest birds "harvest" your crops and leave you with nubs and bird droppings for fertilizer. You could resort to BB guns or avicides, but what would the neighbors say? The ones with cats and dogs and kids running around. Not a good idea. What you need are some effective and humane pest bird deterrent measures.
One way to stop pest birds is to simply exclude them altogether with a physical deterrent like bird netting. Netting is especially useful for keeping starlings, catbirds, orioles, robins, blackbirds and jays from attacking your apples, grapes and raspberries.
Another exclusionary bird control technique is to use an opaque plastic cover (normally used to cover young plants in the spring to prevent freezing). Or even empty crates, inverted to keep starlings from yanking out your small plants.
You can also string up some Visual Scare Bird Deterrents--like flash tape, or balloons covered with predator eyes--to make pest birds so nervous they'll want to leave.
These bird control measures are equally effective in deterring fish-eating birds. Pests like herons, egrets, gulls, terns, kingfishers, diving ducks, pelicans, cormorants and ospreys-- all love to feast on fish in small ponds.
The good thing about bird netting is that it comes in a variety of cuts and mesh sizes. You can even get bird netting in different colors, like white, stone and black to blend in with its surroundings. For larger birds like pigeons or seagulls, a 1-1/8-inch to 2-inch mesh size is ideal; for sparrows or starlings, opt for a 3/4-inch mesh size. Try to choose U.V. stabilized, flame resistant and rot- and water-proof netting. It will last longer.
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