(WSJ) - New York winery owner Ted Marks uses air cannons to scare away the birds that gobble up his vineyard grapes, but the noise can bother neighbors. He has tried prerecorded bird distress calls and big, shiny balloons and still, the birds peck away. 

Finally, he got surprising help this fall from a peculiar, temporary employee. Standing 20 feet with bright colors, reflective hair and a ready smile, he looked a little out of place, but Mr. Marks was impressed by his ability to ward off starlings, blackbirds and other airborne pests.

"Mr. Pinot, as we call him fondly, we feel has done the best job of anything," the 72-year-old owner of Atwater Estate Vineyards said. "It was hysterical." 

On loan from a government-funded research project, Mr. Pinot and a handful of other inflatable "dancing" tube men—the kind often seen at auto dealerships—wiggled above four wineries in New York's upstate Finger Lakes region this year, as well as at some blueberry farms there and in Michigan.

At Lakewood Vineyards in New York, vineyard manager Dave Stamp also had great luck with a modern-day inflatable scarecrow named Wayne. He guarded a Pinot Noir field from birds, including wild turkeys which occasionally ransack grapes. "It kept birds quite a ways away," Mr. Stamp says. 
Researchers think the tubular deterrents, often used in advertising, need broader testing to prove their true worth. Good weather also helped fruit crops this year, and signs of success are anecdotal. Still, the strong, early response has likely earned dancers wider study next year, said Catherine Lindell, associate professor of zoology at Michigan State University.