North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Jim Fruth" <jfruth@tds.net>]

Diane,
   The aluminum wire I use to hold the plastic fake cherries is soft enough 
that birds can pull them off the twigs.  It needs to be pliable enough so it 
expands as the branches grow in diameter; a stiffer wire would become 
ingrown into the branch.  The thickest (dead soft) aluminum wire I use is 
.050" but I'll use the next size down when I can find it.
   Anyway, as I watch the birds pecking at the plastic beads (eg. Robins), 
they will peck at several and from tree to tree before they decide that red 
things aren't good to eat.  Of those birds who swallow whole fruit (eg. Blue 
Jays), they'll pull it off the tree and turn it around, back and forth, in 
their beaks, tasting(?) it then drop it on the ground - I've not ever seen a 
bird swallow one.  Every couple of weeks, as I meander by, I pick up the 
dropped 'cherries' and hang them up again.
   I use a similar bead as grape decoys that seems to work but the birds 
carry them off the property and I have to make new ones every year.  I wish 
I could find realistic looking bunches of plastic grapes.

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN  56472
For jams, jellies & syrups:
www.bberryfarm.com
(877)265-6856 [Store]
(218)831-7018 [My Cell]

Does this work only for birds that peck at the fruit, or also for ones
that eat them whole?  Do the beads come off as they eat them, or do
the birds just give up and therefore ignore the real cherries when
they form?


Diane