A Case of Birdeaux

Rise and grind. The growing season is here and so are the birds. For a vineyard, birds are often the biggest late-season threat. Here in the Texas Hill Country, we have plentiful tree coverage which provides an abundance of shelter for birds.

In contrast, the Texas High Plains do not have much canopy, and birds pose little threat to their crop.

At Signor Vineyards we take a proactive versus a reactive approach to producing our estate harvest. That is why we bring in in experts like Edward Hellman, Ph.D. Edward is the Professor of Viticulture and Enology at Texas Tech University. On his recent visit, we discussed and learned some things about birds.

1. Birds are smart. Did you know that crows, just like parrots, can speak?
   They are so intelligent that they create their language to communicate.
2. The bird kites that we installed to prevent crop destruction from the birds must be
   moved periodically because they are very capable of adapting.
3. Birds can cause damage to grapes through eating, pecking, and puncturing lower grapes with their feet.

For those who follow us on Instagram, you may have seen our recent post asking for name suggestions for our new “Falcon”.
The winning name was “Birdeaux” by Megan Reeves.

With each year we aim to do better and continue to strive to be stewards of the land. Our 2020 crop is in full bloom and looks to be on track to be a robust and plentiful harvest. We invite you to join our journey as we continue to share updates from our family vineyard.