Silly Little Country

Avian Marginalism at a Winery

Part of the day was getting a winery tour. While waiting for it to start, we noticed frequent noises that sounded like shotguns going off.
The tour guide explained to us that these were just noises, fired off electronically to discourage birds from harvesting the grapes before the humans get them.
Shortly thereafter we were sent off by the tour guide to wander among the vines and sample the grapes. The only problem I had doing that was fighting off the house sparrows! I noticed as well that as the shooting sounds went off I may have twitched a bit but the birds were utterly uninterested.
Now of course what I do not know is how many unfazed sparrows would have been in the field had there been no gunshot noises. What is vital is what happens at the margin.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 7:32 PM