Magpies recruited to safeguard vineyards from grape-eating birds
Submitted by Chickowee on 05 Jul 2017.
Bring in the big guns. Magpies are being lured in to help ward off smaller birds that feast on grapes.
Fruit-eating birds like starlings, rosellas and thrushes cause substantial damage to Australian vineyards, in some cases munching through 80 per cent of the fruit.
Farmers try to deter them using balloons that look like predatory birds, gas cannons that let off loud booms, and reflective tape that flutters in the wind. However, the birds soon wise up to these tricks and ignore them.
