Authored by Althea Tan in Gardening 
Published on 02-01-2009

If you’re one of those few people lucky enough to own a cherry tree in their yard, it’s surely needless to say how much pleasure you probably derive from it. Having a magnificent, fruit-bearing cherry tree is indeed rewarding and pleasurable, both to the taste and sight. A cherry tree is usually considered by non-gardeners an exotic plant, making most people impressed and perhaps envious by the fact that you own one.

Unfortunately, there are those who just want to spoil that pleasure you get from your cherry tree. They are those who can’t resist the beauty and the bounty that a cherry holds in its branches. They swarm the tree almost every day trying to nibble on your tree’s delicious fruits. We can’t blame them though because it is in their nature.

What we’re talking about here are birds eating the fruits off the tree. Try as you might, it’s just extremely hard to get rid of them. They can come from anywhere, eat the fruits, and then get away with it. Or they can sit in the branches unnoticed and gobble the fruits throughout the day. It’s quite hard to catch or repel these pests, but there are various ways on dealing with them for good.

The most common way of keeping those birds away is placing a plastic owl around your yard. A plastic version of any animal that eats birds will also do the trick, as birds usually are instinctual enough to avoid them. Examples are snakes, hawks, or scarecrows. Well, scarecrows don’t eat birds, but they do give the birds quite a scare. You can buy these at your local gardening store. You can also search online for a different or more realistic version of these animals that will surely work on scaring those birds away.

It’s easy to scare the birds away from your tree, but this trick doesn’t last long. Unfortunately, some birds are really brave (or just wise enough) and will continue bothering you. With this you might want to try using any reflective or noisy object to prevent birds from coming too close, such as a reflective tape made for scaring birds. You can buy one from any gardening store. For maximum scare, you can use it in combination with various wind chimes. Combine a reflective tape, chimes, and a plastic “scary” animal and you’ll find it funny that the birds can’t even go near the vicinity.

Although birds are really annoying in that they take a little more than their share of fruit, it is recommended that you leave one tree exclusively for them. Sometimes, you might consider them pests, but birds are also a delight in the sense that they liven up your garden. You’ll feel like there is something missing in your yard if you’re used to having birds around and then all of a sudden you’ve scared them away. Only then would you realize that you’ve actually loved them all the while.