Scarecrow - or in my case, Scareeagle

A local eagle has figured out he can fly down the neighbor's road, navigate around the trees near his sawmill, cross into my field, and take out my female Muscovy ducks. The eagle hasn't targeted the larger male Muscovy, or the geese, but I've already lost 3 girls out of 12 this year, and a 4th is injured and I'm not convinced she's going to make it. The Muscovy are grass eaters, so it's really hard to confine them, so I can't really do the covered run thing. Eventually I'm hoping to have some paddocks instead of the one large field, but the area where the paddocks would have to go has no fencing and is adjacent to a major enough road that I have to make sure the birds stay off it.

Sooo... that left me looking for other deterrents. My reading suggested that scarecrows can help, particularly if there are dangley things that move, but only if you move them around regularly. That means I need a scarecrow that is light weight.
Also, the eagles tend to be an issue from Feb to June which can have some very wet weather here, so as much as natural fibers would have been nice, I wanted to go for things that wouldn't grow mold too quickly and easily.
Also, I'm totally into recycling!
The metal center support is two pieces that came from a friend's above-ground kiddy pool.
The body is a broken large bucket.
The head is a small bucket that was used to store something stinky, so I didn't mind re-purposing it for this job.
The hat came from a thrift shop several years ago and has been underutilized.
The coat was given to me because it didn't fit anyone in the household where it was cluttering a closet.
The pants came from a different friend and they're ripped and have lost their elastic.
The chicken wire that I used to make the arm supports was salvaged from somewhere.
The pants are just tied around the bucket with some used string.
The large bucket just rests on the "shoulder" of the pipe - I drilled a hole and then filed it to fit - the head is a stiff enough fit that it's just holding by friction.
It's held up by sliding the metal tube over a piece of rebar with the end sharpened - that we bought. We use them for a number of purposes and have thinner and fatter ones depending on the job being done. But it means that I can whack the rebar in with a box tool, then just slide the scarecrow over it and then a few days later, do the same in another location.

So now I need to gather up parts to build a second! I'd love to see all the beautiful scarecrows the talented people here on permies have made, so please post your pictures - they can't look any worse that mine!!

I had planted the scarecrow on the front lawn as a test and the photo, and moved it to the field at "duckie bedtime". My neighbor called me from over the fence this morning. "Where did you move the scarecrow to. It made my day! I told all my family about it!" I assured her it had simply been put to work.

I'd also sent the picture to a few friends, one of whom promptly replied that "Sammy the Scarecrow is awesome!", so clearly the next scarecrow will have to be "Sally".

On a more serious note, my other neighbor who's also had eagle troubles, had made a scarecrow and told Hubby today that it turned green and biodegraded. That supports my thoughts that since I need this in our wet spring, the materials I used are a good choice, particularly since they're being re-used instead of land-fill.

After standing on the front lawn admiring the flowering Dogwood, Sally went to the back field to make sure Sammy was doing his job.

Put a big gun in their hand! <g>  I'm not sure, but I think some birds know about guns.

Whirligigs, like on old beany hats.  Or maybe just some streamers. Or a commercial version, just for ideas:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bird-B-Gone-Bird-Spider-360-Spinning-Bird-Deterrent-6-ft-MMBS600SPN/205116111

Attached find a pic of one design sold to keep gulls off boats. Looks like poles with fishing line. Most slips are 35'x12' or so.



Cheers,
Rufus

I don't know what your talking about your scarepeople are adorable!  What a super way to reuse what would otherwise be trash.  I was wondering about adding something in there other hand that would clank together and make a little noise, or would that also scare the ducks?  We had a hawk family last year.  I was wishing they would come back this year, they were so cool to watch.  My chickens were young last year and were locked in the coop, this year they are all over the place, so maybe I should be careful what I wish for.  It's nice how something so simple can make peoples day, a great side benefit.  I hope they do the job.  Good luck.

Jen Fulkerson wrote:

I was wondering about adding something in there other hand that would clank together and make a little noise, or would that also scare the ducks?  

Sally's holding a pair of tin take out food containers I bent together. If I hung something inside like the clapper in a bell, when the wind catches the pans it might make a noise. That would certainly be worth experimenting with. They do recommend that we change things up periodically to keep the birds at bay, so I figured I needed to make some shimmery vests and other things for them to hold and swap them out for what's there. I need to think of scrap materials I have around that could make whirligigs - the goal is to re-purpose/re-use and not buy anything, out of principle.

I've never tried to make a whirligig out of tinfoil pie plates - I bet there are instructions on the web.

Sammy's hat keeps covering his eyes so removing it and putting something that spins on his head has some merit.

It's definitely a work in progress, and I thank you Jen for your kind comments! One set of neighbors, and Hubby cracked up laughing at how "busty" Sally turned out - if they give people a good laugh, that's totally worth it, with what so many of us are currently facing with covid 19 worries!

And at least I haven't lost any more ducks!

I had some of that shiny stuff I had gotten at the dollar tree to put into gifts, kind of like tinsel, but a little wider.  I tied a bunch of that to some bamboo stakes, and tied some on the trellises I had in my garden last year.  It is reflective and light, so the wind makes it dance.  I also put some inexpensive wind chimes in my garden.  My biggest issue are squirrels.  Last year I sprinkled cyan pepper all over my  corn bed.  It took 3 try's to finally get corn to sprout.  The cyan did the trick.  I wish I could figure out something for the almond tree.  The squirrels eat them before they are ripe.  We have 3 huge trees and rarely get almonds.  The things we do to protect our flocks, and gardens.  

Re Almond trees: if they "stand alone" (must go UP trunk to access nuts) wrap trunk in stove pipe or some other metal squirrel claws cannot grip. Metal roofing with straps top and bottom or riveted together would work also - just make sure they can't get under. Electric (rabbit) mesh around tree or orchard with enough height/distance that they can't jump is another alternative.

Thank you so much.  I will definitely give your suggestions a try it is so frustrating to have to buy almonds when we should have more than we can eat.  I am very grateful.

I thought my scarecrow game was tops until I made it here. I’ve seen the light and must do better!
Here’s my scarecrow. Mask, hat and local craft brew in hand. They know I’m close and watching.

Poor Sally and Sammy look a bit like they've been through the war! Between snow, high winds, winter rain and summer sun, they look much shabbier now. Their faces didn't last at all and for the long time, I couldn't think of any way to do a better job. Not much sticks to plastic buckets...  Finally, Sammy's hat rotted out, so that got me started on repairs.

Sammy got an upcycled jeans beanie and I got the idea of taking a piece of an old jacket, sewing eyes and a mouth to it, and hanging it from the inside of the hat, down in front of the bucket as a way to give him a face again! From the wind damage he took, he does look much more like a hunchback, but at least he's got a smile!


Sally's hat was getting that feel that artificial material gets when it starts to biodegrade, so it needed to go to the trash. I had an old coat I could salvage fabric from, so she got a brimmed hat specially fitted for a "bucket head". I gave her green eyes and pink lips to match her new blouse, but personally, I don't like the way her face turned out nearly as much as I like Sammy's. Too bad - it's done and it will have to do! Late January, through to March is a hungry time for eagles. We lost a Muscovy a couple of weeks ago and I suspect it was a bird of prey. That seems to have gotten the rest of them watching the sky more reliably, but it also motivated me to get these two fixed up a little.


I still feel my efforts to make these two a light as possible was the right approach for me. They're still quite top heavy and their pole is a long leaver arm. The best way to move them is to take a spare piece of rebar, hammer it into the ground, move Sammy, remove his rebar to a new spot, put the Sally on that post, then file the now empty rebar until the next move. I need to start moving them every 3-4 days in the hopes that will be enough to discourage trouble!

How funny that this thread exists, I love it.

My grandfather didn't have a scarecrow, but he was known to string up blank cds and pie tins to reflect the light to ward off pests from his gardens. I love the upcycling that folks have done when making their scarecrows.