Bird Damage

Drought brings on so many issues, including extra bird damage. Birds love to peck at fruits like tomatoes and berries, and also into watermelon. Check out the Watermelon Diva Blog. When I was training as a "Woodland Advisor," we learned that often the birds were interested in the water content of the fruits. So damage may be greater in dry years. When I was a berry farmer years ago, I had 2 acres in strawberries & 1/2 acre in raspberries. One of the methods to lessen the damage was to provide scattered bird baths around the area. The logic was that some of them may avoid the berries and just go for the water. I have nothing to compare it too, so can't say how it worked, as opposed to providing no water, but it makes sense. Scarecrows, shiny pie pans, plastic hawks, foil strips may all help, but desperation will make the birds take more risk too. Netting can work for some things, but only if it's 'tented.' If the netting sits directly on the fruits, it doesn't help, they just peck right through it. I picked blueberries once were they had the automated speaker screeching out the call of a hawk every 10 minutes.........was that ever annoying, but they found it effective. If you have a small garden, you could protect individual melons with a milk crate or inverted wire planting basket, something big enough for the fruit to grow under, open enough for sun & air, small enough holes a bird can't climb in it. A new invention...........the 'melon guard.' I'll have it on the QVC channel next year!
Maybe we could take a lesson from the caterpillars.......some of the poison ones are brightly colored to warm predators to stay away.....maybe paint a large red 'X' on your melons? Assuming you are not trying to sell them. I know, it sounds crazy, but gotta think outside the box sometimes!