BirdLife Australia and orchardists in Dwellingup, Western Australia, are joining forces to tackle a common cause for concern: black-cockatoos in orchards.
Baudin’s Black-Cockatoos are notorious for their love of pome and stone fruit, much to the dismay of growers in south-west Western Australia.
Current methods of exclusion, such as fruit netting, and scaring techniques, including gas guns, are often expensive, labour intensive and noisy. Worst of all, the smart black-cockatoos quickly adapt, with many scaring techniques becoming less effective over time.
This trial will use an innovative bird-friendly autonomous laser deterrent system, developed by the international Bird Control Group, to keep these critically endangered birds off the orchards.
Laser deterrents present an opportunity for a long-term, bird-friendly orchard management.
How laser works
The lasers work by triggering bird’s natural fight or flight instinct upon seeing the green light approaching, making them flee.
“The non-harmful laser is dynamic, and the constantly changing path of the beam means the birds have a much harder time adapting to the ‘threat’,” said Michelle Kerr from Bird Beam, Bird Control Group’s local partner.
The laser system has already shown promising results in deterring other species of cockatoos from macadamia farms in New South Wales and parrots from apple farms in Victoria, reducing bird-related damage by 90%.
For contact details see Tree Fruit July 2023
