Last week I opened a rather surprising email from Michael K.
Michael has a garden with a cherry tree. In the summer, as soon as the cherries turn ever so slightly red the neighbouring pigeons come and feast on them – devouring the entire crop before the cherries are even ripe, and more importantly before Michael and his family can enjoy them.
Nothing unusual there. However as the pigeons are quite unimpressed by CDs and other traditional “bird scaring” devices, Michael wondered if helium balloons might scare them out of his garden and let him enjoy his cherries.
I couldn’t find anyone who’d tried helium balloons as bird repellers. A little research seams to indicate that balloons with holographic effects might be the most effective.
However helium balloons are not designed to be outside and not heavy duty and could be easily ripped by sharp beaks or strong winds.
I thought the costs of re-inflating and replacing the balloons might be a little high (especially when we have no evidence it might work). We thought that lots of colourful latex balloons might keep the birds away – Michael is going to try it.
Let’s hope he enjoys some cherries!
Helium balloons… I doubt it.
While they might bob around and startle the birds for a while, there are a lot of downsides, as you mentioned. The birds will quickly realize they are not a threat, and the cost and time cost of replacement hardly seems worth it.
My company, Bird-X, Inc, sells the balloons with the holographic eyes on them. We call them the TerrorEyes, and you can see them at http://www.bird-x.com/products/terror.html. They permanently repel birds as the birds never get used to the constantly changing eyes. The balloon is also heavy duty and will last for many, many years.
Feel free to visit http://www.bird-x.com for more information.
Thanks Tom! Terror Eyes do look mean.
We also have a cherry tree, which in years gone by has been laden with fruit then stripped just at rippening. Our main cherry thieves are crows- very cheeky ones at that! Last year we managed to harvest nearly all our fruit because we used a helium balloon shaped as a bull’s head (a western themed party balloon!) We presume it looked very similar to a bird of prey, and even when it had deflated it still worked. This year we are using a unicorn and a spiderman, so far so good!
Thanks Clare – good to hear from someone who has actually tried it. I guess it’s now official – helium balloons (even deflated ones) can keep the birds out of your garden. Enjoy your cherries!