Francis Berger
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The Birds, 1; My Father, 0

6/3/2021

9 Comments

 
My father is currently visiting us from Canada, which has been delightful. Last year, he purchased a small house in the village a few doors down from mine, but he didn't have the opportunity to really see what he had purchased until now. Thankfully, he likes the place, especially the backyard, which has three long rows of grapes, a few currant bushes, a couple of walnut trees, some pear trees, and a big sour cherry tree. 

Over the past two weeks, he has been keeping an eye on the sour cherries. When they began turning red, he happily announced that he would pick the fruit the second it ripened so that he could bake some cherry strudel. Unfortunately, my father was not the only one to take note of the ripening sour cherries in his backyard.

A couple of days ago my father barged through my gate, his eyes wide and frantic. 

"They're eating them all!" he exclaimed. 

"Calm down. Who's eating what?" I asked.

"The birds! They're eating all the cherries!"

I followed my father to his house half-expecting to see a couple of sparrows pecking away at a few cherries in the grass, but when I walked into the backyard I was confronted with something straight out of Alfred Hitchcock. The cherry tree throbbed with birds. Every branch was full. And when I say full, I mean full. I'd never seen anything like it. Dozens of birds, from a variety of species, all ravaging my father's precious sour cherry tree in unison. 

We promptly purchased a plastic eagle and placed it in the tree to deter further marauding and salvage my father's dream of baking cherry strudel. It's too early to know if the plastic eagle in the tree will work. If it does, I will ceremoniously grant my father a point and call the cherry match a draw, but as of now the birds are up one to zip.

On a side note, during the cherry apocalypse I happened to catch a glimpse of a bird I had never seen before - a yellow bird with black wings. Turns out it was an Orioulus orioulus, known more plainly as the Eurasian golden oriole. 
9 Comments
Dr. Mabuse
6/3/2021 23:42:04

I sympathize. I have a dwarf sour cherry tree, and for us it's squirrels who strip the barely-ripe cherries before I even get a chance to pick a few. One year I caught a young raccoon in the branches doing the same thing. The only time I managed to thwart them was when I diverted them with other food - specifically, a bird feeder full of seeds and a lot of peanuts. They forgot all about the cherries while climbing up to get the tasty peanuts, and I was able to pick enough to freeze a few bags.

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Francis Berger
6/4/2021 20:28:09

@ Dr. Mabuse - My father lives in Canada. Unfortunately, he has had a great deal of experience with raccoons and squirrels eating his grapes and raspberries. He thought his fruit would be safe in Hungary. He was wrong.

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S.K. Orr link
6/4/2021 03:00:52

Just beautiful. I played the video and my dog sat up and came over to my laptop to see what was going on. He's very "bird-aware" and was keenly interested in the songs and calls. I had to explain to him that the bird was not from these parts.

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Francis Berger
6/4/2021 20:28:59

@ S.K. - Thanks. That made me smile.

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bruce charlton
6/4/2021 13:27:52

Good story. I'd be surprised if a dummy bird was effective, but let us know if possible.

That golden oriole is certainly distinctive - the male (I suppose) is such a bright yellow that it almost seems artificial.

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Francis Berger
6/4/2021 20:31:12

@ Bruce - We'll see if it works, but another commenter has already informed me to change up the scary plastic creatures because the birds apparently get wise to the trick fairly quickly.

The golden oriole really is a sight, and I believe it is the male possesses the bright yellow plumage.

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Sean Fowler link
6/4/2021 18:20:07

Same thing happening with my brothers place in Bulgaria, but with gypsies. Stripped every single apple from a dozen trees, not one solitary fruit left on any tree when he came home.
Think the birds have had their share. Your dad should be able to treat his grandson to a strudel.
Keen gardener myself. The science and experience says change the scary weird thing frequently. Every three days or so. They figure it after a while. They hate groups of a dozen or so CDs, dangling, strung together.

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Francis Berger
6/4/2021 20:33:58

@ Sean - That's funny. Earlier this week I used dangling CDs to keep the swallows from nesting under the roof overhang of my dad's place. When all is said and done, I'd rather deal with birds than gypsies. I have a feeling that gypsies aren't deterred by plastic eagles and dangling CDs.

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Sean Fowler link
6/5/2021 15:02:00

Oh that problem was easily solved. He just bought the place they were squatting over the road, waited until they disappeared for the day and then took the roof off. Problem solved.
You can never really beat the birds though and who would want to? God bless them.

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