Apparently these black birds are a real pest to not only city residents but also a bigger nuisance to our rural neighbors just over the hill. It was just that very morning that I almost jumped out of my skin as I was awakening by a loud boom. Were we being bombed? It sounded way too close. Then it was followed by other booms and what sounded like gun shots at varying intervals. A war zone?
What in the heck was going on? Well, the farmer was trying to scare the black birds into leaving as they are destroying his corn crop. ( Not people corn but feed corn.) Heck, I don't know about the crows but I felt like leaving. When I asked Natureman about this method he indicated it was probably an automatic exploder. This city mouse needed a tutorial.
So, of course, I googled automatic exploder and here's what it looks like and what I found out.
"These are also known as "propane cannons." These do not discharge a projectile, but use propane gas as a loud discharge with a booming sound. There are manual mechanized single-shot units as well as electronic with random, rotating multishot devices. (Obviously my neighbor had the latter.) These cannons can be adjusted to a localized boom affecting a very small area to larger ones that can reverberate for 25 acres. Digital clock timers and photocells are options for automatic firing and turning the devices on and off."
Sure enough the birds lifted out of the field but I am not so sure they are not just hiding out in the trees waiting to return. Some sandhill cranes also flew over End of the Rainbow Valley at the same time but I don't mind if they stay.
As far as I know Hitchcock didn't make a movie about Sandhill Cranes, did he?
Black Birds click on this link they don't sound so destructive when Paul McCartney sings about 'em...
Gas explosions, sounds like a fart, they do this around the farms at Perrot, makes a lot of campers nervous
ReplyDeleteI could have used something like that for the deer when living in Apple Valley.
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