Great piece. God bless the raptors for protecting my beloved Oregon pinot noir.

Very interesting. I know what a threat to fruits and berries birds can be. A cousin of my mother had a berry farm and used both air cannons and netting to protect the fruit from the birds.

We had a cherry tree in our yard (had because it died a couple of years ago). One year a stray kitten appeared at our house and my younger daughter worked to tame it. Initially, it would not allow itself to be caught by people.

My daughter placed little dishes of food out for it on the patio behind the house and gradually won its trust. It hung around the patio all summer until she finally had tamed it.

As it happened, that patio was close to our cherry tree. That summer was the only time we harvested a decent crop of cherries. Every other year, just before the cherries ripened to the point of picking, the birds would come and strip the tree.

My father had a different method to protect his cherry trees from the birds. He would put a radio inside a plastic bag to protect it from rain and hang it in the tree. He found that playing a rock-and-roll station at high volume was effective in repelling the birds. I couldn't use that strategy because my cherry tree was close to my neighbor's bedroom window.

Big Al

That was really interesting!

Side conversation for Mik:

Went to a tasting party at a friend’s house yesterday. Brooks riesling and pinot noir (2017, 2018). Preferred the 2018. (Brooks was doing a virtual tasting with pre-shipped wine and munchies; we had it on but pretty much ignored it to just chat with each other.)

Extras: Brooks sparkling riesling, chilled and room temp (their recommended presentation). I brought a Treveri sparkling riesling to compare. Others brought different pinot noirs. Fun!