{"id":837879,"date":"2026-06-01T23:59:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T23:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/837879\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T23:59:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T23:59:26","slug":"falcon-like-flapping-drone-drives-birds-away-from-strawberry-crops-in-qld-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/837879\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcon-like flapping drone drives birds away from strawberry crops in Qld trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

A drone mimicking a peregrine falcon is giving hope to farmers losing hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of strawberries to ravenous rainbow lorikeets.<\/p>\n

The robotic raptor has the same size, silhouette and flight patterns of the world’s fastest bird.<\/p>\n

It flaps flexible polyfoam wings during 15-minute windows on rechargeable batteries.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The RoBird needs to be thrown in the air to launch. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)<\/p>\n

Launched with an overarm throw, the RoBird weighs less than a kilogram and was designed to protect food crops without harming native wildlife.<\/p>\n

“We’re only hazing or going after the birds that the farmers know eat the crops, in this case rainbow lorikeets and cockatoos,” drone pilot Harry Lagastes said.<\/p>\n

“All other birds \u2026 we’re not actively trying to remove them from the crop, for biodiversity.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Lots<\/p>\n

The trial is being funded by Hort Innovation. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)<\/p>\n

Queensland strawberry growers gathered at TSL Family Farms, an hour’s drive north-west of Brisbane, to learn more about a three-year joint trial with Canadian-based AERIUM Analytics, funded by Hort Innovation’s Frontiers project.<\/p>\n

AERIUM Analytics chief growth officer Jill Viccars said flying and fixed-wing versions of the RoBird had been successfully used overseas to deter birds at airports and mining sites.<\/p>\n

Its horticultural trials began last year in Victoria and South Australia, focusing on stone fruit, apples and almonds.<\/p>\n

Crop damage reduced by 89pcLoading…<\/p>\n

“The almond trial ran for four and a half to five months, and we did a treated versus untreated site,” Ms Viccars said.<\/p>\n

“We saw an 89 per cent reduction in fruit damage, so we were obviously very excited about that.<\/p>\n

“Our second year of operations in almonds is going to be looking at how we scale [expand].”<\/p>\n

$200K in crop loss<\/p>\n

TSL Family Farms co-owner Laura Wells was eager to host RoBird’s first Queensland trial.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Laura Wells hopes the RoBird can help cut fruit losses to rainbow lorikeets. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)<\/p>\n

Her family moved from growing strawberries in the ground to tabletop production to reduce backbreaking labour, soil-borne disease, weed growth and the need for agricultural chemicals.<\/p>\n

But they hadn’t predicted that raising the crop’s height would create a strawberry snack bar for rainbow lorikeets, costing, in the farm’s worst year, “$200,000 in just a couple of weeks in early crop loss”.<\/p>\n

\"Damaged<\/p>\n

Lorikeets damage the fruit. (Supplied: Taste\u2019n\u2019See Strawberries)<\/p>\n

“They’re not a bird that just comes and has a snack, they actually annihilate entire rows of fruit,” Ms Wells explained.<\/p>\n

“There’s not actually a berry left on a row where they’ve actually decided to go and eat.”<\/p>\n

\"Damaged<\/p>\n

Damage varies according to the season and location. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)<\/p>\n

Ms Wells said the influx intensified when rain washed out natural nectar sources.<\/p>\n

Bird scarers, gas guns, and driving through the crops have done little to deter the lorikeets.<\/p>\n

“They actually come and settle in the night before, and then they’re here while that overcast weather is here so they know that they’re going to have a good food source.”<\/p>\n

\"two<\/p>\n

Bird scarers and gas guns have not kept lorikeets away from the fruit. (Instagram: @shutterscot\/File photo)<\/p>\n

Over the next three years, the fake falcon drone will take to the skies over the south-east Queensland strawberry farms multiple times a day during the growing season.<\/p>\n

“They’ve had a lot of success in other areas, and we’re hoping to see that here,” Ms Wells said.<\/p>\n

Beak performance<\/p>\n

For now, the ornithopters need human operators.<\/p>\n

AERIUM Analytics said the three-year trial would determine whether it would hire out drone pilots and RoBirds or sell the units.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The RoBird has a carbon fibre body and flexible polyfoam wings. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)<\/p>\n

Asked if the cost would stack up, the company said the farmers they worked with were crying out for the technology.<\/p>\n

“They’ve all said that they’ve tried everything,” Mr Lagastes said.<\/p>\n

“So, the cost-benefit analysis certainly lies with the sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of crop that they’re losing.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ducks can also be a problem for farmers. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)<\/p>\n

Bird damage<\/p>\n

The federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry valued Australian horticultural crop losses to birds at more than $300 million annually.<\/p>\n

The damage was unpredictable, varying from year to year and farm to farm.<\/p>\n

More than 60 bird species presented a threat, including lorikeets, cockatoos, ducks, corellas and feral Indian mynas.<\/p>\n

Ms Wells said the trial had given her hope.<\/p>\n

“Super excited to be honest, feeling really optimistic,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We’re really, really hopeful that this is going to be the game changer.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A drone mimicking a peregrine falcon is giving hope to farmers losing hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":837880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[23],"tags":[2906,343376,118290,81081,5247,746,343375,103349,9204,343374,159,28593,48728,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-837879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-agriculture","tag-birds-eating-crops","tag-crop-damage","tag-crops","tag-drone","tag-environment","tag-fake-falcon","tag-farm","tag-farmer","tag-robird","tag-science","tag-strawberries","tag-sunshine-coast","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116677572864615233","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}