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  • From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Robins
  • Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 09:46:51 -0500


Why don't you try the fake berry decoys I spoke about last week. ... Robins
are easily fooled but other birds less so, but then, robins do the worst
damage (here anyway). Of course, fledglings won't be fooled either because
the fruit is ripe when they leave the nest.


With raspberries, robins seem to be the only problem here (so far). However, most of them are fledglings. And they're all so tame that they're hard to scare away - at least, for long.

I've got twine strung above the raspberry patch and all around it, and I've attached to it long streamers of tinfoil to blow in the breeze. They don't seem to even notice. Likewise with the artificial owl that I leave mostly hidden in the canes, moving it around regularly. One of my squirrels was pretty wary of it, walking around it very cautiously, but the robins weren't fooled for a moment. (It's too heavy to dangle on a string.)

Yesterday, I was working in the middle of the raspberry patch and I STILL couldn't keep the robins out. They won't scare off unless I rush over to them, and then they just move to the other side of the patch. I chased one of them from one side to the other several times. It was pretty funny, really. Throwing something doesn't bother them at all, unless I actually hit them, and I'm not that accurate (and I don't want to hurt them, of course). Spraying water on them works, but only briefly.

The raspberry patch is too big and too thorny to net (well, I COULD, but it doesn't sound inviting). Most years, it isn't a problem because I've got lots of raspberries, and I hardly notice what the birds get. But the late freeze killed a lot of my canes, so I don't have so many this year. The robins are eating them as soon as they turn red (these are black raspberries), and I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever see a ripe one this year.

I'll give your berry decoys a try next year, though. It sounds easy enough, and anything that helps will be welcome. The other thing that helps is running a hose somewhere. Whenever I'm watering one of my plants, the robins spend most of their time right there, gathering worms. The adults, anyway. The fledglings apparently find it easier to pick berries!

Thanks much,

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no use being a damn fool about it. - W.C. Fields



  • [NAFEX] Robins, Jim Fruth, 06/11/2007
    • Re: [NAFEX] Robins, William C. Garthright, 06/12/2007

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