The fig walk is really for me, we added stairs for the cats later on. :)

Hi Janni,
I wash my old socks that get old (holes) , let them hung around and then use them as organza bags. Having not too short feet helps ...
I dispose some aluminum plates (from eaten cakes) around too.
I still have some pecking, but ho well.
For sunflowers, sorry to disappoint you but rats will climb on them to feed. The seeds on the floor will attract voles ... Well, you're free to do as you want, but be informed of that fact.
I stopped feeding birds because of the rats, voles and moles  getting attracted... Just my experience ...

There is just no winning, is there! We barely a mole, but no holes. Or are they the same? No end to what wants to eat all my food!

Birds just started going into my Desert King for the first time ever. Being green and unripe
didn't deter them.  Set-up sensitive booby traps using party poppers
to scare them away and also applied footies. 

I had actual flocks of birds swoop down into my yard (I also have sunflowers and various seed producing plants and lots of territorial birds here) and decimate my figs in a matter of a few minutes several times in the past. Even yelling at them from and making a commotion had no effect. It's a heartbreaking sight and it happened so fast it was stunning. They were brown and looked a lot like large sparrows. Hanging CDs had no effect except to make my yard look strange and cause temporary blindness on sunny days when the breeze turned them. I'd strongly recommend against grape juice or Kool-aid if you have raccoons. It is often used on raccoon bait and they love the stuff. What did work was nets. Our local Lowe's has them fairly cheap and even if you lose a fig or two at the outer edges you still get most of the figs for yourself.