Wintergreen berries & crows

[Dahlia]

I bought a beautiful wintergreen plant this winter that had lovely red berries on it. There are a lot of crows around here and the crows have picked off every single berry! Any ideas for keeping crows away?

 

[digitS']

A scare crow! Ya know, in the current issue of the Nat Geographic, there is a photo of how some Mongolian herders keep wolves away from their horses and flocks. They put colorful scare crows on horseback .

Those spiral wind spinners might do the job.

Our nearby nesting Sharpshinned Hawks kept this neighborhood crow-free through the Summer. Those small hawks were extremely defensive against the crows.

Good Luck Dahlia, Steve

 

[Alasgun]

They respond to a 12ga pretty well.

 

[SPedigrees]

That's the point of berry-bearing shrubs and trees, to feed the birds and other wildlife in winter.

 

[Dahlia]

That's the point of berry-bearing shrubs and trees, to feed the birds and other wildlife in winter.

It's making me sad tho because I love this plant!

 

[SPedigrees]

It's making me sad tho because I love this plant!

But they haven't killed it, have they? It will grow new berries next year, and berries eaten may spawn new plants! Look on the bright side!

 

[flowerbug]

i had crows here all day in the yard crowing/calling to each other. i'm not sure why they were here but when i'm outside i do talk to them. of course i don't know what i'm saying - probably something like, "Hey I'm an idiot trying to sound like a crow!" and they come around for the comedy...

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

In my experience what works best to stop birds from flying off with prized berries is bird netting which really is not heavy enough on windy day . Now I use greenhouse netting heavy enough to hold and secured in place.

I also have winter mint ground cover planted near the pond . Mice , voles & smaller birds attempted to steal all the berries. I put a clapper near the pond which is on a pump that pushes water up a Bamboo spout as the water hits the bamboo catcher below it’s makes a clacker sound to scare off critters .. raccoons are the biggest thieves around here.

Which reminds me … it’s probably time to get the netting up over the grapes before the word is out to those flying marauder’s.