Crop Protection
Avian interlopers cost the United States roughly \1.9$ billion each year in crop losses and damage control. Now researchers have landed on a potential solution that uses speakers to send out a directional buzzing noise – a sonic shield – to keep feathered pests away from farm fields as well as tall buildings. Since birds vocalize to alert each other to predators and food sources, biologists hypothesized that interrupting the conversation would increase birds’ vigilance, leaving less time for loitering and dining. Indeed, in tests, food patches subjected to eight hours of the so-called sonic net saw a 46 percent drop in bird presence compared with control groups. It proved to be a more lasting and safer deterrent than other tactics, such as high-tech pyrotechnics and poisons.