The birds have discovered the wine grapes. Every time I walked under the arbor a little flurry of rising wings could be heard. The pea hens are residing in the peacock penthouse because last year they ate a third of my crop and now the sparrows are taking advantage. Serious measures had to be taken.
So I have brought in reinforcements.
Sundog uses these stern fellows to keep the birds off her blackberries. TonTon actually growled at them.
After the dogs had given them warnings about farmy behaviour, I filled the Glaring Owls bellies with dirt and sat them on the poles that support the grape vines.
The change was instant. The sparrows, steered clear and the starlings gave them a wide birth. Immediately. Frankly I would too. These guys are not mucking around.
The instructions say: Only put the owls out when it is time to scare away the birds and move them frequently so the grape thieves do not get used to them. After the harvest put them back in the box ’til next year. They are 18 inches (48cm) high and look stunning out in the gardens.
Impressive aren’t they. Their heads bob about in the slight breeze, turning on their shoulders like feathered brooding back up singers borrowed from the Exorcist’s Green Room.
Good morning. How are you all this morning? The sun has not yet risen into my hazy cloudy sky. Another glorious hot day is forecast. Of course now that the hay is cut, the best hay, threats of showers and thunderstorms have crept into the forecast. Friday and Saturday will be dicey. So the tension has been cranked up a level.
I hope you all have a lovely day.
your friend on the farm, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
65 responses to “The Bobble Headed Owls have come. Be afraid. Be very afraid!”
the Owls are so cool… I am sure the dogs and birds are very afraid 🙂
Those owls are awesome. I *know* I would be seriously afraid of them.
And the pig in the hay – OMP (oh my pig) – how adorable!! XOXO – Bacon
The photos of the dogs and the owls are amazing
Those are brilliant. I’m amazed they have not appeared over here where there would be plenty of work for them. There might be problems with real owls mating with them:)
um, that would be an unfortunate consequence.. c
Funny you should say that – when I lived in NJ we had an inground pool and a big problem with ducks landing in it during the spring mating season. So I bought a big decoy male duck and placed it next to the pond. Lo and behold i look out the window and there is a ‘live’ male duck facing off with my dummy duck looking for a fight! I even got pictures somewhere.
oops!! c
Glad to see that Ton Ton’s right on top of those intruders. I can only imagine what my Lola would do if I brought something like that to my home – the barking would not stop! My daughter once bought me these beautiful handmade festival masks from Venice & silly Lola just couldn’t stand them – I think it was the blank eyes or something.
the farm down the street from us uses bright balloons that they draw eyes on for their corn fields but it looks like you’ve got the super deluxe upgrade to balloons.
I must have one of those owls. Great idea. Love the photos. Waiting for things to cool off here in Texas. Have a great day.
We used these on the golf course to keep the Egyptian Geese off the greens…. didn’t work, the starlings sat on their heads and the geese knew they were harmless… glad they are working for you…
I think the owl is scarier to the little birds, the owl will eat them if he can catch them, but I do agree that it would not scare a goose off. I will move them daily to keep up the momentum. Today is once again free of birds in the grapes, so something is working! c
At Easter, I used to bake a lamb cake. (I have a Cake mold n the shape of a lamb) When I would sit it to cool on the kitchen counter, the dogs would react to it the way TonTon and Boo did the owls.
I think it was the ears that got them.
I think you might be right abut the ears! Interesting.. c
Ha ha! I honestly thought it was a species of owl that I hadn’t heard of. Then I saw the pictures! Hope they carry on working as long as you need them. 🙂
I wonder if the owls would work on figs. The birds ate my first year crop! I may have to get some and try it. Thank you for sharing!
You are welcome Julie, we will see how long it works for but i hate the nets, everything gets so tangled, and the sparrows just hang on the nets and peck through anyway.. c
Wonder if these would work in our strawberry patch….
Thank you for this post! We had birds eating all our figs last year so we put nets over the trees this spring. But then new tree growth went right through the nets so this year we’ll lose some netting and branches too. The owls sound like a perfect solution. Thank you! How funny that even your dogs are wary.
Looks like they scare dogs too! I’ve never seen them used for produce before. 🙂
Good Morning, I love those owls, where would I get one from?
I think your sister would have to give you one for your birthday!! c
The owls and the dogs would give me much amusement… love the pics. I’ve seen the owls in Bunnings hardware (in Sydney) and was enchanted by them – they are quite gorgeous but we are trying, at the moment anyway, to attract birds to our country garden so have no use for them. They are a great idea to guard the grapes.
The piglet in the hay is a Hallmark picture 🙂 Fingers crossed the weather is kind to your hay making.
Thank you! I DO Have use for them and a Bunnings is close 🙂 !