I've been gardening in the same spot for 20 years and never had trouble with pecking birds until about 3 years ago. We've always had catbirds and many other species in and around the garden. We've always fed the birds in the winter & feed the hummingbirds in spring; we're surrounded with woods and near water, fields, etc., so it's great bird habitat. Seems the catbirds, which I believe are in the same family as mockingbirds, are the only ones that bother the tomatoes, and if we didn't cover the strawberries and blueberries, we'd lose them, too. They sit on top of the bird net screeching, picking the berries they can reach. Not sure why they never took to the tomatoes before this, though.
kath
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