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Thus, in 1989, the most soon-to-be controversial innovation in bird deterrence was launched–a carefully sculpted, hand-painted, blow-molded plastic owl with eerie yellow eyes (which are shipped in from an artificial eye company in Taiwan). Caldwell had personally tested it in his own blueberry bushes with no small success, while another local tester managed to ward off an entire flock of Canadian geese from his lakefront property. Response from consumers was also clear; without any advertising, the hard-bodied owl doubled in sales every year for five years, going from 10,000 to 160,000 sold per year (right now it has leveled off at 200,000 per year).

What’s more, satisfied users began writing in their praises. "With very little effort, my problem with squirrels in the garden has disappeared," wrote Tim Sellars of Orange, Texas. "At first I was skeptical because squirrels are smart and not easily fooled." Mrs. Lillian Norris of Sweetgrass, Montana, reported that, "The sun has taken a toll on my owl–[it’s] cracked all over [and] I had to stuff it–but it still did the job."

Even so, there were others with complaints–and there are still about 10 customers a year who actually mail their owls in for the money-back guarantee.

"We certainly get the people who say, 'Hey, I put this out and two days later a bird was sitting on top of its head,’" says Caldwell. "But we contact them and we usually find out, 'Well, it wasn't two days later, but it was a week later…' Did you move it? 'Well, no, I can't reach up there…' It's printed on the bottom of the owl that you must move it to maintain its effectiveness. So most of the people who've complained did not use it the way that we told them to."

But these few complaints over the years did not prepare Caldwell for the mounting storm of opposition that was to be unleashed by the Wall Street Journal article. As far as he knew, his only competitors were a few other owl manufacturers who mostly produced them for crow hunters–otherwise, he has an 80 percent share of the owl market. Little did he know that companies in the professional bird repelling industry were taking note of his plastic owls, and they were not pleased.

"Plastic owls have become the laughing stock of the bird control industry," declares Bird Barrier America, Inc., on their Website. "Research has shown that pest birds will initially notice the owl and give it a wide birth, but get closer after realizing that it poses no threat…

"There are two ways that plastic owls can actually be used as bird deterrents, however: a) sneak up behind pigeons and throw the owl hard at them and b) wedge the owl into a nook or cranny used by your pest birds and physically block access to the area with the owl. While neither one of these options is financially worthwhile on their own, you may feel somewhat better about blowing 29 hard-earned bucks on the stupid owl in the first place." (Dalen’s owls have a list price of $14.95.)

The implication that Dalen Products was ripping off consumers surprised and hurt Caldwell, especially because he never intended the owls to be used in industrial settings like warehouses or telephone poles–the Natural Enemy Scarecrow® is primarily for home gardeners who have regular access to the owl and can (yes) move it around, he says.

"We had never even heard of [Bird Barrier] before–we don't even compete with them," insists Caldwell as he tours the dark, hot confines of one of his warehouses. "What they do is, if this is your warehouse and you're having a problem with birds, you call Bird Barrier, and they come in here and they figure out where the birds are coming in and how to get rid of them. The cost can be anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000. People who don't want to spend $5,000 to $50,000 go down to Wal-Mart and, for $12.95 each, buy a bunch of owls. Well, you can imagine how this galls Bird Barrier–this guy is trying to do for $200 what they're charging $5,000 to do."

Consequently, when these cost-cutting industrial barons failed to move the owls from their hard-to-reach perches, they typically found that their owls lost effectiveness after a week or so. Thus, professional bird repellers would swoop in for the kill, crowing over the supposed impotence of the plastic owls–and causing a large fuss. Although the Wall Street Journal failed to report this aspect of the conflict, the story hasn't hurt his business, says Caldwell.

"We've gotten a lot more good out of the article than bad. In fact, we went to a show last week, and we had real major players in the industry come up and congratulate us on the article," he says. "We kind of questioned them: 'Well, it really wasn't a very positive article…' and they said, 'We don't mind a bunch of minor sniping as long as they tell our customers that the stores can't keep them in stock.' And it's true–they do sell very, very well."

However, yearly sales of the owl have been on a downward trend, so Dalen Products is preparing to launch the next phase in plastic owl technology: a model with a swiveling head. Caldwell has held it back for three years, waiting for the standard model's sales to max out. Now he's ready to unleash his new sales weapon in December for the spring '98 growing season. Standing in a small workshop, he demonstrates a prototype that's being readied for immediate delivery to Wal-Mart executives.

"You see, the head is mounted on a needle, right above the balance point, so it doesn't take any energy at all," he says with enthusiasm, lightly blowing on it, sending the head spinning. "Any little bit of breeze will cause it to rock and to nod and to turn. It's such a dramatically different approach from the old one that it's going to give everybody who bought an owl a reason to buy another one…kind of like Bill Gates."

With lots of positive feedback from buyers–the swivel-head owl has already won the Best New Product of '98 award from the Lawn and Garden Manufacturers Distributors Association–Caldwell has high expectations for projected sales of 100,000 in its first year. What's more, his company is predicting something between 50 to 100 percent growth this year and will also soon be crafting its own consumer identity by selling all its products under the new "Gardeneer" label.

"We're just beginning to realize that we've gone from a small business to a medium-sized business," he says. "We've always considered ourselves to be a small entrepreneurial business, but in the last two or three years, we realized we're really competing with the big boys–head-to-head with some of the really big players."

First Published: July 31, 1997 • Metro Pulse

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