Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference

The use of scarecrows to prevent bird damage to crops probably dates back thousands of years to the beginning of agriculture. Because many of the birds that can cause damage to field crops are protected species, farmers need effective non-lethal protection methods. Despite their perception as “low-tech” and thus ineffective, scarecrows are being used in Israel in a new way, as a cost-effective part of modern bird-damage prevention programs for field crops. Farmers in the Hula Valley in northern Israel placed seated life-size human effigies dressed in yellow hooded rain-suits, each holding a large black pipe (to simulate a shotgun) in fields of winter field crops, as part of a program to prevent damage by Eurasian cranes. Each effigy was also equipped with a life-like facial mask. Experience has shown that approximately one seated scarecrow is needed per 5 ha (about 12 acres) of field crop. To make these scarecrows more effective, and to prevent habituation, the farmers occasionally dressed in yellow rain-suits like the scarecrows, and seated themselves in the field, opening fire with pyrotechnics when birds approached. In addition, the farmers donned the yellow rain-suits whenever conducting any bird harassment activity, such as shooting pyrotechnics from vehicles while patrolling their fields. The birds apparently learned to associate the yellow-suited figures with danger and to keep away from them (and the crops). Farmers who used the new scarecrows in this way found them to be cost-effective because crop damage was almost nil, while damage prevention expenses were also kept low, since the scarecrows are cheap to build and maintain, and less pyrotechnic ammunition was needed for crop protection.