{"id":493365,"date":"2026-02-20T22:53:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T22:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/493365\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T22:53:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T22:53:32","slug":"peregrine-falcon-drone-could-save-australian-fruit-and-almond-orchards-from-hungry-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/493365\/","title":{"rendered":"Peregrine falcon drone could save Australian fruit and almond orchards from hungry birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canadian-made drones masquerading as peregrine falcons are being used to watch over Australian fruit and almond orchards.<\/p>\n

The drones come in fixed-wing and flapping wing models that rely on bio-mimicry technology to keep smaller birds away from the fruit and nut trees.<\/p>\n

That means they look and behave as a predator would, to scare off species such as corellas or cockatoos.<\/p>\n

With most of Victoria recording minimal rainfall over the past year, birds have been looking to agricultural crops for food.<\/p>\n

AERIUM Analytics president Jordan Cicoria said field-testing of the drone in Victoria and South Australia showed that the machines can cope with the Australian heat.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jordan Cicoria with the fixed-wing drone which has a propeller on the nose, and the flapping version has activated wings. (ABC News: Charmaine Manuel)<\/p>\n

“These trials were never about proving whether the technology works \u2014 we already know that.<\/p>\n

“We’re collecting data on the effectiveness of the robot \u2026 against a range of bird species that cause significant fruit and crop loss in Australia,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

The drones are being adapted to work in harsh Australian conditions. (ABC News: Charmaine Manuel)<\/p>\n

He said the drones had been in operation for 10 years in the mining and aviation industries.<\/p>\n

“In airports, for example, it’s helped significantly reduce bird strikes and prevent birds from landing in dangerous areas.”<\/p>\n

“The real question for us was how that translates to agriculture, how it applies to specific crops and farming systems,” Mr Cicoria said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jordan Cicoria says the drone replicates a falcon\u2019s silhouette and wing-flapping motion to scare smaller birds. (ABC Shepparton: Charmaine Manuel)<\/p>\n

Aiming for clear skies<\/p>\n

Ardmona farmer and Victorian Fruit Growers chairman Mitch McNab grows apples, pears and stone fruit \u2014 all of which are appealing options for birdlife.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mitch McNab says growers will have to use tools like drones and other technology to protect crops. (ABC Rural: Annie Brown)<\/p>\n

He was trialling the drone in the months leading up to harvest, which kicked off a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n

“So far, we’ve seen reasonably positive results,” Mr McNab said.<\/p>\n

He said he was optimistic about the drones because the number of birds circling Goulburn Valley orchards had increased this year.<\/p>\n

“This year has been drier, and birds are clearly looking for alternative food sources: irrigated horticultural crops like apples, pears, and stone fruit become very attractive in those conditions,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Typically, we might lose around 1 to 3 per cent of our crop to birds, but this year that’s probably closer to 3 to 5 per cent.<\/p>\n

“Fruit is very valuable and protecting yield is critical, even a small percentage of crop loss represents a significant financial impact.”\"Red<\/p>\n

Mitch McNab says there have been more bird attacks on crops due to lower rainfall.\u00a0 (ABC Rural: Annie Brown\u00a0)<\/p>\n

To balance the cost of purchasing, maintaining and operating the drone, Mr McNab said a cooperative model was being considered.<\/p>\n

“The capital cost of purchasing a drone and having someone operate it isn’t always justifiable for individual growers, especially in lower-pressure years,” he said.<\/p>\n

“A shared or cooperative approach would allow better utilisation of the technology, and I think that’s something Fruit Growers Victoria and Goulburn Valley growers would seriously consider.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canadian-made drones masquerading as peregrine falcons are being used to watch over Australian fruit and almond orchards. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[248926,57704,17250,248928,64,63,3978,248925,248927,44,248924,157727],"class_list":["post-493365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-aerium-analytics","tag-almonds","tag-apples","tag-ardmona","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-drones","tag-fruit-crops","tag-fruit-growers-victoria","tag-news","tag-orchards","tag-peregrine-falcons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}