The Cherry Tree: Predators

“My God, we have been blessed,” said Barton. He saw pink, everywhere he looked. “Muriel, come and see this!” It had rained most of the night. Bright pink, cherry blossom petals from the orchard covered their front steps, sidewalk and driveway. Their tiny, green car even looked pink, coated with the blossoms that had fallen.

“That is so pretty,” said Muriel. 

Soon tiny, green cherries appeared on their trees.

“There will be lots of cherries, this year.”

“It sure looks that way,” replied Muriel, with a smile.

As the cherries turned ripe, hundreds of birds began stripping all of the cherry trees.

“We won’t get much of a crop this year, unless we do something,” said Barton. He began doing research on how to protect cherry trees from birds. “We can buy netting to cover and protect the cherry trees. I'll pick some up at the hardware store.”

“That may cost a fortune with this many trees, but it may be our best option,” replied Muriel.  

Just then, Barton and Muriel heard several, gunshots from the neighbor’s fruit farm. A huge flock of birds flew up in the air.    

“Other fruit farmers are having the same problem, but should we use guns?” wondered Barton.

“Fire crackers work, too,” suggested a neighbor, when everyone in the community met later that week to discuss the bird over-population problem. “In a plastic water bottle, they make a racket.”

‘I prefer my pellet gun.”

“I make chimes out of metal strips,” suggested a second neighbor.

“Wind spinners work, too.”

“Old cds frighten the birds,” said another neighbor. “Just drill a hole and hang them in the cherry trees, like Christmas decorations.”

It appeared that while there were many possible answers, no one had the perfect solution.

“Maybe we should just let nature take its course and let the birds re-seed our trees?” asked Barton.

A while later, the old man who had fired the gunshots next door, sat down beside Muriel.

“Howdy neighbor, bring your husband over for a cup of coffee, sometime,” he said. “Gunshots work the best. They get rid of other predators, too.”