A couple weeks ago when the cherries first started to ripen we noticed the robins stealing them, so my husband brought the big (fake) owl out of the barn, and we put it near the cherry tree to ward off the robins.
I’m not sure how well it worked because I still saw a robin now and then swoop into the tree or one on the lawn eating a cherry.
Thursday evening I picked about 3 quarts of cherries and decided that along with the seven or so quarts that are already in the freezer that I had picked enough, so my husband took the owl back to the barn. The birds can now have all the cherries they want.
But who invited this guy?
In case you can’t tell that is a baby racoon staring at me from the cherry tree.
I hope it enjoyed its meal.
Don't Eat It! Soap and Skin Care 
My challenge is keeping critters out of my tomatoes. I’m watching one ripen right now and am hoping I can get it before they do. I’ve resigned myself to sharing my strawberries.
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At the farm we use a lot of fences and netting to protect our produce and we still get outsmarted by the critters sometimes.
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You are so lucky to have all of those beautiful yummy cherries in your yard. They are so expensive at the grocery store.
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My husband planted that tree about 22 y ears ago. It has done so well. This year we planted some sweet cherry trees at the farm. I hope they do well and start producing fruit in the next couple of years. I love sweet cherries and you are right; they are expensive.
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I wish I had a cherry tree in our yard, because I love cherries. And I think it’s nice of you to leave some for the birds, and raccoons, apparently! They are cute, as long as they stay out of the trash cans!
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I wish the critters would understand that they are more than welcome to the ones I can’t reach. 🙂 We planted some sweet cherry trees at the farm this spring. I am so hoping they survive and start producing soon. I love sweet cherries but boy are they expensive.
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Little stinker. I’m glad you saw him before you reached in to pick. ❤
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Me Too!
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I’m so envious–we had a lot of cherries one day, and then none the next, thanks to the flocks of birds that descended upon our tree before I had the chance to pick any! It’s happened in prior years (but not every year) and it’s SO frustrating!
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Oh, how maddening! We usually don’t get flocks of birds at this tree likely because it is so close to our deck. We do get the resident Robins eating their share.
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And now I’ve discovered they’re eating my raspberries too! Agh!!
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Grrrr! We were just thinking we might want to put netting over our grapes. It would be nice to harvest a grape crop this year.
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Y’all are kind.
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We are blessed!
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You’ve harvested that many cherries already – wow! I guess I always thought of cherries ripening around the Traverse City Cherry Festival, then I realized June has flown by and the Festival starts next week, just before Fourth of July. So the owl works … good to know Ruth because I opened the door yesterday and a Robin had the first nest fixin’s laying on the elbow of my coach light. I went into the house and had to shove a box which I wrapped in a Meijer grocery store bag in the “elbow” of my porch coach light. I Googled today and learned to thwart them to put up an owl or windchimes. I’ll get something before next year … the generally have tried to build nest in April, not this late in the season! The raccoon is cute. 🙂
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I think the birds got used to the owl being there and realized it wasn’t a threat. A wind chime might be better to keep them from building a nest. A racoon on your porch might work too. LOL! The tart cherries are earlier than sweet cherries. I think the Traverse City festival revolves around sweet cherries.
It was cute but I hope it doesn’t stick around. If it gets under our house we could have problems.
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Despite the phrase “bird brain” to describe birds, our feathered friends are a lot smarter than we think. I don’t want to use the spikes as that is cruel and my handyman suggested putting up a lightweight metal mesh over the light and I said “it would just collapse and they’d build a nest on top of it unless you attached it to the siding and that would look bad and besides, birds would get their toenails caught in it and I don’t want to walk outside and see a bird hanging from its toenails and flailing around!” I compromised at the side door and got rid of that coach light – the birds loved that one more as there is a small awning so they were cozy and the nest and babies were out of the elements. I got a dome light to replace it, but I don’t want to do that out front.
As to the critters, I know we have raccoons, even deer, in our city. People have taken photos of them and posted them in the City Resident’s Facebook site. Last month, I pulled up in the driveway to see a huge possum walking over the front lawn in the middle of the day. My neighbor had raccoons in his garbage can and I had the big groundhog burrow. I really worried about that as the burrow was at the foundation and deep!
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