A new laser beam machine is deterring ducks and cockatoos from crops and vineyards in Victoria.
Company 'Bird Beam' markets the product to farmers grappling with the boom in duck and cockatoo numbers in recent years.
Co-founder Michelle Kerr, Hobart, Tasmania, spoke to Stock & Land at the recent Future Ag Expo at the Melbourne Showgrounds.
"It's a bird deterrent laser," she said.
"It's designed and made in the Netherlands and it uses a special wavelength to disrupt the birds."
Ms Kerr explained that while humans could not see the whole spectrum of the green beam, birds saw it in its entirety.
"They think it's a whole permanent object, much like a stick that is moving towards them," she said.
"When the stick-like object moves towards them, they have that flight response.
"Over time, they learn that the area is dangerous for them so they learn to move away from it and they'll push off that farm and stay out of it."
She said the beam stretches for 5 hectares and no other bird control equipment would cover such a large area in one motion.
"It's quiet, it's silent, it's effective," she quipped.
The machine was positioned on a post or pole, above the canopy or looking down on the crop itself.
For example, it was placed on a six metre pole above a vineyard or 3m pole above a crop.
It was usually placed in a field corner or along a fence line and the beam didn't stop birds from flying over the crop.
The machine just prevented birds from landing on it.
"It doesn't take all the birds to see it," Ms Kerr said.
"All you need is one bird to see it and then it spreads the chatter to the flock and they lift and leave."
The Bird Beam machine was priced at $20,000 but she said vineyards in the Yarra Valley were seeing a one year return on investment.
"That comes with our expert knowledge and we've got solar kits or it can be connected to grid power," Ms Alvin said.
"It's about growers realising how much they're losing.
"They literally don't know because at the end of the day, they're not doing the sums."
She said the product was liked by Bird Life Australia and other wildlife organisations because it was "ethical".
"Growers are looking for more sustainable and ethical ways to manage their bird problems," she said.
"It doesn't come directly from the grower but the pressure comes from the markets.
"The market demands that they're sourcing sustainable and ethical products on farms and so, there's a widespread no kill policy coming in from those bigger market players."
Bird pressure
Ms Alvin said growers were opting to use the beam over shooting birds.
She said there had been an uptick in demand for the product in recent months due to a boom in pest bird numbers.
"We've just come into a really dry period and the bird pressure is enormous this year," she said.
"You'll find that there's a massive breeding programme after a really strong wet season and then that's now followed by a dry season where we've got a lot of birds.
"There's really high pressure this year, countrywide.
"We're seeing Hunter Valley have lost 60-70 per cent of their grapes this year due to birds."
Ms Alvin said this increase in bird numbers has been "right across the board".
She said the beam had a 99pc efficiency record with ducks.
"They do not like the laser at all and they will leave that property," she said.
"It runs at night for ducks so it's really seamless.
"During the day you don't need it on and at night, the laser comes on when the farmer is sitting at home having a beer and trying to sleep.
"You don't need to cover the whole crop.
"You have to programme your laser near the water source that they're coming from so you don't have to cover the 50 acres or whatever it is."
Ms Alvin said cockatoos were also a "big subject" this year.
"Cockatoos are always a subject if you don't manage them," she said.
"The laser works in a constant rotation of your devices.
"When you get a tool box of deterrents and they work in combination with each other, that's when you get the gold."
