Are Pest Birds Eating Your Grapes, Crops, and Seeds?

Fawnridge Winery and Vineyards
Auburn, CA

Why This Falcon at Fawnridge Winery Got on the News - and It's Not Even Real

Viewers of Good Morning Sacramento were treated to some footage of the Falcon Crop Protection FrightKiteTM in action - although "action" may not be quite the right word. As you'll see from the clip (linked below), a section of grapes nearing harvest at Fawnridge Winery and Vineyards in Auburn, Calif. looked particularly quiet and absolutely idyllic during the report, filmed one Tuesday morning in late August 2018.

But of course, quiet was the whole point - what was missing from the picture were the hundreds of squawking birds that normally flock to the vineyard looking for a free meal of ripening berries.

"We were faced with spreading some nets over the top of the canopy of these vineyards. That's a big job," said Stewart Perry during the news report. Perry, who owns Fawnridge with his wife Stephanie, saw an ad for the Falcon Crop Protection FrightKiteTM and was immediately intrigued. With easy setup at a fraction of the cost of installing netting, they had nothing to lose. "I thought, 'Well, I'll give this a try. And here we go."

"Here we go" is right. The cameraman zooms in on a power line above that normally is filled with birds, scouting out their next meal of grapes. With the FrightKiteTM flying nearby, the power line was absolutely empty.

During their research, the Perrys found out that the Oakland Coliseum - home of Major League Baseball's Oakland A's - launched two of their own FrightKitesTM last year to solve their rampant seagull problem. Viral videos show birds brazenly attacking fans and stealing food right out of their hands. That's now a thing of the past. Not only were the FrightKites? effective, "Falcon Mcfalconface" became so popular with fans that it has its own Twitter account:https://twitter.com/mcfalconface

"They said that the kites reduced the number of seagulls from a thousand to eight," Stephanie Perry said during the news report.

Stewart and Stephanie Perry are just two of a growing number of vineyard owners who have found out how effective and inexpensive the Falcon Crop Protection FrightKiteTM can be. They are silent, portable (so they can be moved from section to section easily), self-launching and self-flying, and totally harmless to the birds for the greenest possible solution to bird control.

With veraison just around the corner, many more vineyard owners are about to find out how the Falcon Crop Protection FrightKiteTM can significantly reduce crop damage and increase crop yields. Others are planning to expand - roughly 40% of the FrightKitesTM sold today are to vineyards which have already tried them to great success. It pays for itself in the first year with crop yields alone, never mind the labor and materials costs associated with expensive netting.

A Study in Vineyard Bird Aversion: Paradise Ridge Winery
Paradise Ridge Winery, CA

One of a vineyard manager's worst early morning sights is walking among their vineyard and finding fruit damaged by birds. To combat this force of nature, growers have traditionally tried expensive and labor-intensive methods of mitigating bird damage in their vineyard. They've used sound-emitting devices, introduced other large birds of prey, placed netting in the fruiting zone and even tried netting the entire canopy, ultimately learning that nothing has truly provided an economic or socially acceptable solution to the problem. Luckily, the industry has been buzzing about a new solution that has shown spectacular results from guarding against bird damage without any netting whatsoever.

Falcon Crop Protection has developed a falcon-shaped kite that is attached to a moveable pole and behaves like a real bird of prey. Their "FrightKite" looks like the real deal and has proven highly effective in fending off birds that would otherwise do damage to valuable crops.

We spoke with Dan Warwick, Winemaker and Vineyard Manager of Paradise Ridge Winery, on the types of issues his vineyard was facing and what made these kites worth the investment.

"Before the kites, we ended up installing netting over the vines which was expensive and labor intensive. It was better than nothing, but some birds were still able to get under the netting and damage the fruit, sometimes getting trapped inside the netting. It's not only about the loss of fruit, we then had to add more labor to go through and drop the bunches that were damaged. When you have fifteen acres of vines and the netting costs anywhere from $1,000+ per acre, you are talking about a major expense. Not only that, but there was an entire process required to make it work. You had to install the netting, which required hiring a crew, then later you'd have another crew lift the same netting to harvest the grapes and then ultimately remove the netting afterwards. It was a hassle and required a lot of labor. Worst of all was that it only helped a little, and still didn't eliminate bird damage 100%.".

On discussing his decision to give the FrightKites a chance, Dan says, "I had seen the kites at tradeshows and saw a spotlight article touting their effectiveness. I figured I'd give it a shot ? since I'd already tried the netting ? and I was astonished by the results! I had no damaged fruit! It was unbelievable! I ordered some more kites for this year's harvest to put in all my vineyards."

"An added bonus to the other benefits is that they're also bird friendly," he says, "I don't want to kill the birds or have them get trapped in the netting, I just want them to not eat my fruit."

Falcon Crop Protection's FrightKite is an amazing tool that vineyard or winery owners should not hesitate to learn more about to see if they can reduce or eliminate bird damage in their vineyard at a reasonable price, and without harming the environment

aini Vineyards
Healdsburg, CA

Saini Vineyards is a well established and well known family business producing premium quality grapes in Healdsburg. We were introduced to Mike who had serious bird problems in past years and was interested in what the Falcon Replica could do and how it would perform. In 2016 he was not having the typical bird pressure that he had experienced in prior years but nevertheless was willing to test the product.

We installed a 22ft Falcon on a portable base (umbrella stand) so it could be moved around to be effective against birds and also to move it out of the way when harvest was in progress. The above photo hows one of the main access roads through the vineyard and the location of the falcon on its base at one of the cross roads. The Falcon easily launched in the winds that are present virtually every day in that location and throughout the remainder of the season did not have to be taken down nor did it suffer any damage.Here are some further photos of the installation.

Notice how in the upper right photo the Falcon has its wings bent upwards which happens as the carbon fiber spars bend in strong winds to give the product a realistic and moving wing appearance just like a real falcon. This 22ft pole had a 16ft flight line so the kite was approximately 35-38ft up in the air. This is easily visible to approaching birds and gives them plenty of advance warning of a predator bird ahead and take evasive action.

The shape of the Falcon closely replicates a real falcon as does it color and movements which are always changing. Typical "scare" repellents like owls and scarecrows etc do not move in a random manner and birds quickly learn that they are nothing to be scared of and continue to invade the vineyard. Not so for the Falcon.

Early mornings in Healdsburg can be times of low wind and the unique design of the Falcon incorporates design features of a regular one-plane kite and a box kite, allowing it to rise quickly in light winds, hold position in the air and also dart around sharply as wind gusts change in intensity.

As the end of season approached, Saini moved the Falcon to the fields which were last to ripen before finally taking it down and storing for next year. Here are his comments;

Bob and Linda Salomon Vineyards
Glen Ellen, CA

Set in beautiful Glen Ellen is the Vineyard of Bob and Linda Salomon where varieties of red and white grapes are grown. Each year Bob has had problems with finches taking his grapes as the approach maturity.

Bob has tried using rubber owls, audible scare alarms and flash tape but none provided any degree of satisfaction in repelling hungry finches. As a final resort he took to driving down the rows of vines sounding an air horn to try and get the birds to move.

Then he heard from a friend about the Falcon Kite from Falcon Crop Protection so he called to request a meeting. After a short while Bob was convinced enough about the potential to give it a try so he purchased a 40ft kit and launched his replica Falcon.

Here you can see the product flying at about 50ft in the air so it is clearly visible to incoming birds.

No sooner was the Falcon in the air the finches disappeared. They had already adapted to visiting his vineyard so instead of moving totally they re-located to the far end of his property several hundred yards away. Bob called for a second Falcon asap but this time opted for the smaller and more mobile 22ft kit.

The 22ft pole was attached to one of the vine support posts like the lower left photo shows and this set the Falcon about 40ft up in the air. When the wind fell, the Falcon would drop to a level just above the vines then rise rapidly and weave around when the wind increased in strength. This random movement and the appearance of a second hunting Falcon in the vicinity was all it took to give the birds their final "notice to quit".

Crocket Family Vineyards Case Study
Glenn Ellen, CA

Dave Crockett has an intimate connection to the Californian wine industry. Not only is he a grower himself with a 5-acre vineyard in Glen Ellen, he is also the sales and marketing manager at Dirt Farmer & Company which provides an extensive array of vineyard services including landscaping, vineyard specifications, irrigation, fertilizer injection, and much more.

In short, Dave knows a thing or two about Californian vineyards. He?s seen the good, the bad, and the especially ugly. There were several years when birds virtually cleaned Dave out of grapes. He spends a lot of time looking for the best ways of deterring birds to boost his output ? and his profitability.

When Dave heard about the Falcon Frightkite? by Falcon Crop Protection, he had to learn more. After meeting him in his own vineyard during our testing phase, we installed the 42-foot Falcon Frightkite at the top of his property, and the 23-foot model in a bottom corner. While we were installing the Frightkites, we watched the finches gathering in the trees and along the wire fence around his vineyard. You could just sense they were getting ready to feast on Dave?s grapes the moment we left! But they never got the chance ? after we launched the Frightkites, the finches took off in a flash.

The 42-foot Falcon Frightkite soared well above tree height while the 23-foot model hovered just above the vines. The top photo shows how high the 42-foot model reached when the wind took it to full flight, and the bottom photo shows both Falcon Frightkites in low-wind positions.

They certainly look impressive. But most importantly, they worked. Dave?s results demonstrate just how effective the Falcon Frightkites are. He noted that the Frightkites greatly reduced the number of birds in the area, in his words "virtually eliminating? all damage done by feeding birds. The Falcon Frightkite?s easy setup and low cost make it especially appealing. Perhaps the greatest compliment is this: after our successful installation, Dirt Farmer & Company is now testing Frightkites in larger vineyards for its clients as well.