Fieldfare thrushes: How to deal with the most harmful birds in the country

What methods will help in the fight against rowan thrushes? And what does plush toys and Carlson have to do with it? Andrey Tumanov, chairman of the All-Russian organization «Gardeners of Russia», answered these questions of 5-tv.ru.

How to distinguish fieldfare thrushes from other birds

The fieldfare thrush is a very common bird in central Russia. From other representatives of the family of thrush fieldfare, their lifestyle distinguishes them.

Although some pairs may nest separately, in most cases fieldfare gather in medium-sized colonies of about 30-40 pairs. They like to settle in park plantings and in copses, along the edges of forests, closer to wet meadows. Fieldfare is not found in dense forests.

Outwardly, fieldfare is a medium-sized bird, with an average body length of about 25 cm. The plumage of the back is dark brown, and the abdomen and underwings are white. The wings and tail are blackish-brown, the chest and sides are buffy with dark streaks. Fieldfare thrushes are quite well-fed birds, notes Tumanov.

“This is such a fat, sleek bird, which is like a little chicken,” says the expert.

Real scouts

According to Andrei Tumanov, fieldfare — thrushes are very cunning and smart. Due to the fact that they settle and live in flocks, it is very inconvenient for them to seek food for themselves all together, leaving the colony.

For this reason, rowan thrushes use reconnaissance. Before arranging a raid on the next rowan tree, vine or freshly picked berries left unattended, the thrushes first send out scouts.

“Here you are in the garden, and suddenly, somewhere on the wires, two rowan thrushes are sitting and pretending that they are here by chance, just whistling. Tumanov says. “No, these are not just thrushes — they are scouts sent out by a flock.”

That is, the flock sends out two scouts who observe if there is something they need. Somewhere strawberries ripened, somewhere raspberries. Where is the owner? Does the owner walk around here or did he go to watch TV?

If the scout thrushes see that the owner is busy with his own business, and no one is guarding the berries, they whistle a signal to the whole flock, which is capable of instantly devastating everything.

How to deal with field thrushes

Since the flock arrives only when intelligence «gives the go-ahead», the only effective method of dealing with harmful birds is to create the appearance that a valuable crop is always under observation.

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In this case, all sorts of scarecrows are very helpful. However, Tumanov notes that scarecrows should not be banal and static; you cannot deceive cunning birds with this.

«[Помогают — Прим. ред.] well, different, preferably non-standard scarecrows, preferably some kind of moving ones. Tumanov says. “If you somehow move the scarecrows, constantly change their locations, then here the birds will look with caution.”

He noted that he uses all sorts of soft toys as scarecrows that can be planted in trees to arouse bewilderment and fear in birds. Most likely, they will consider flying around teddy bears, tigers and other animals sitting on branches.

Separately, Andrey Tumanov singles out his plush Carlson, whose “sly look” is able to scare not only fieldfare thrushes, but also crows and even himself.

“I myself sometimes get scared of him when I accidentally stumble, I look a little like me in terms of complexion,” the gardener jokes.

Feel sorry for the bird?

Some readers may have a question: why not feed the poor hungry birds? As a rule, this question is usually asked by the female half of the population, the expert emphasizes. However, no matter how cute and harmless the fieldfare may seem, they should never be fed. There are now more field thrushes than all our gardens can feed. If you give them free rein, they will eat all the crops if they wish, Tumanov warns.

“You can’t shoot, but you can scare away,” the expert emphasizes.

Earlier, Tumanov told how to properly water plants in the summer in the country.