Falcons Defeat Crop-Eating Birds

Falcons Defeat Crop-Eating Birds BIRD CONTROL Bird Control 22-4-42 The hottest new way to scare off crop-eating birds is using live falcons. The idea is also catching on at airports which have to get birds out of the line of flight of planes. Tom Stephan of Ramona, California, trains hunting falcons and hires out his birds to growers. Just the sight of a falcon will scare starlings and other pest birds away, even if the falcon is soaring high above them. Stephan trains his birds to fly high so they're able to scare birds from a large area. The guard falcons don't have to attack the birds. Just the sight of them is enough to be effective. Stephan trains his birds with a helium-filled balloon filled with bait for the falcons. He increases the height of the balloon each training session until it floats as high as 1,000 ft. A falcon that high can be seen by birds from miles around. Another method for protecting cropland is to erect a series of tall poles and train the falcons to fly from pole to pole. As they make the circuit, pest birds all along the route are scared away. (Excerpted from Capital Press)

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