Peregrine-like birds now protecting crops

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Drones have their uses, both good and bad. Many films now seem to have drone footage and we all know about the lethal drones being used in the Iranian war. A feel-good story I heard concerned drones being built to look like peregrine falcons. The size, silhouette and flight patterns are the same as those of the peregrine falcon which is touted as the world's fastest bird. The flexible poly form wings run on rechargeable batteries during 15-minutes intervals. Named RoBird, the drones weigh less than a kilogram and are designed to protect food crops. Birds cause over $300 million in losses in Australian crops. It’s hoped the RoBirds are being trialled on strawberry crops. When trialled on almond orchards, there was an 89% reduction in fruit damage. The main culprits are rainbow lorikeets and cockatoos. The photo of a rainbow lorikeet is by Andrew Mercer and was on Wikimedia.