You have to be fanatical here. Most all of these diversions work, but only until the birds recognize them for what they are. Cannons may work for a week (or much less). Fake owls, snakes, aluminum pie plates, mylar strips, etc. the same way. Doesn't take them long to realize that the diversion really isn't a threat. If you rotate through a number of diversions fairly quickly, each new one will keep them away for a short time, but you have to be fanatical about doing it and switch tactics before they figure out they're being gamed. This might buy you some time to get the cherries closer to being ripe. The other solution is one of numbers. If you have more cherries than the birds can eat, you'll have some for yourself. Plant 30 acres of trees, or shoot every feather you see! I occasionally blow my stack after watching trees loaded with pie cherries turn yellow on the way to red and never get ripe enough to eat and put chicken wire or a net around a tree or part of a tree.

There were discussions on the Roses Forum recently about this. Yes, some species like starlings, orioles, sparrows, and other songbirds eat JB. Within that setting, youÂve got the fringe benefit from the birds. I use birdbaths to draw them here. IÂm thinking to also get birdhouses for next year.

Can't say enough about the benefits of predatory "bugs", our true bugs. Nothing makes me happier than to see a cog wheel bug or an assassain bug perched quietly among my plants, waiting patiently for an unsuspecting catepillar to come strolling past. And the next time you start to swat a fly, you might want to see what kind it is...some of our most common flies also parasitise caterpillars. We are so caught up in our need for immediate gratification...we really want to see results NOW. It is tough to reassuringly tell yourself about balance and long-term fluctuations when you can see the damage being done to a prized planting on a daily basis. And there isn't always a handbook to tell you what the threshold is-the point at which you either take evasive action or suffer a complete loss. I am reminded of the cicada hatching we had here several years back. All you could do was clap your hands over your ears when you went out and stare in disbelief at the branches completely covered with those shiny black insects. How could the trees possibly survive that sucking screaming carpet? But then things quiet down eventually and the scavengers clean up the last of the carcasses and you see that aside from a few dead branches and weakened individual trees, they came out of it ok. Unless the invader is a foreign one and the ecosystem has no defenses for the newcomer, there is always a check and balance.

I believe it's the red Aronia I have (which I also think the Latin name has been changed). I bought it because I read that they eat the red one and not the black. Mine has yet to bloom, just bought this spring at a native sale with not much to it, so I can't comment on the fragrance. But I went to another native sale that had the black ones and they smelled heavenly. And of course I went on a day that was for pick-up only. Since it was about a 2 hour drive, no way was I going back the next to buy myself one! I guess I should of worded my initial post differently and added in what berries do you find that your birds don't eat, but you have knowledge that they eat them somewhere else or something to that effect...because as Rita pointed out, there are berries that maybe the birds in my back yard won't eat, but they eat them in somebody else's.