This is an ersatz AIR MAN made with a section of diaper genie refill.  Squirrels and all birds have vacated the area when it was on moving.  My small vertical strawberry  bed has been a magnet for them until now.  It should work for deer too as they are spooked by movement.

Sounds good.  What is the part that moves with the air?  The plastic owls are pretty useless after a few days IMO.

the plastic tube is a diaper genie refill.  original use is to dispose of diapers with a continuous twist to seal plastic bag 20 ft long.  A stronger fan will operate a longer tube.  This one is surprisingly effective.

  Several of us purchased the commercial version of the AirCrow the last time that we discussed it.  It was only $20 for everything... the strong commercial fan, and two dancing figures.

 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CPPOYIC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

       

   Our problem was birds destroying all sprouting seeds, so a timer kicked on the unit only during daylight hours.  If deer are the problem, the timer could be set to kick it on from one hour before sunset to one hour after sunrise.  The company selling the $200 units always have a $40 coupon on Amazon, and they run specials all of the time.  We used thei special price of $60, and applied the $40 coupon for an Amazon Prime delivered price of $20.   Too cheap! 

That was an incredible price, I bet someone lost there job after that.  The present price is still a good buy compared to others

Thanks for sharing this, eagle2. I'm especially interested in how effective it is against squirrels -- your preliminary results sound promising, but has anyone been using an AirCrow or something similar longer term to deter squirrels? Netting, scarecrow sprinklers (which are very effective against deer, by the way), and flash tape have all proven to be ineffective for me (killing isn't an option), and I'm about ready to give up and build an enclosure for my figs and blueberries.

I often see birds land right in the trees while I'm picking fruit. It usually doesn't take long for them to get used to something, and ignore it. Maybe the air man approach will deter some, though. Good luck! Please let us know how it works out over the long haul.

I built a large enclosure over many of my trees (I made posts about it several years ago) and it worked great once I got small enough bird netting. However, it only lasted a little more than a season before UV and wind shredded the mesh. My trees are currently unprotected, and the birds/beetles get pretty much everything--I'm watering them to keep them alive in hopes of a future solution. I think the only permanent answer to the non-insect pests is a metal mesh enclosure with a maximum opening size of 1/2"--but that's probably more expensive than I'm up for at the moment. Maybe one of these days.