El Charro works shifts at the Hermosillo plant where he flies around trying to scare pigeons. Ford
Posted on 09/27/2026 11:02:13 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
To protect 300,000 trucks a year from a persistent pigeon invasion, the automaker turned to an ancient practice: falconry
El Charro works shifts at the Hermosillo plant where he flies around trying to scare pigeons. Ford
Ford Motor’s assembly plant in Hermosillo, Mexico churns out over 300,000 pickup trucks and sports utility vehicles a year, employing 4,300 workers and a security guard known as “El Charro.”
El Charro, a common term for a Mexican cowboy, is no ordinary watchman. He stands about two feet tall and patrols the skies above Ford’s 12.1-million-square-foot plant in the northern Mexican city.
And the hawk is a nightmare for other birds, which is sort of the point.
Pigeons have besieged the plant for years, posing a health risk to workers and disrupting daily operations. They can get into light beams and factory equipment, and buffing bird droppings out of freshly-painted vehicles is no easy task.
“Having birds inside creates a lot of risks,” said Jesus Teran, central maintenance manager at Hermosillo.
When the problem started getting out of control a couple years ago, plant managers took action. They tried blaring sounds of larger birds. They hung replicas of “predator” eyes in pigeon hotspots. Nothing worked. Birds got so comfortable and familiar with the plant that many would wait for doors around the facility to open before barreling inside.
Teran, a 25-year Ford veteran, said staff at Hermosillo had been researching other tactics for scaring off pigeons, especially a cohort of birds that had built nests in the plant. They settled on falconry, an ancient...
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
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Cheaper than hiring a bunch of guys with shotguns, I suppose. Kids with slingshots might work, too.
Guys with shotguns inside a cavernous manufacturing facility might not work out very well.
“Cheaper than hiring a bunch of guys with shotguns”
greatly reduces collateral damage to the plant compared to shotguns, too ...
Geesh, I was sure it was gonna be an illegal alien!
Really great that Ford built a plant in Hermosillo.
It’s a village that was mainly important as a gateway to Guaymas, which has beaches. Other then that, it’s nowhere.
But it is about 300 mi South of Tucson, an American city with a giant airbase, Davis-Monthan, a big university, the UofA, and at the time Ford built Hermosillo, had about 6-700,000 people in the metro area, with a relatively low wage economy: the mines were in a down turn (low copper prices) and as usual, mostly snowbirds driving the real estate economy.
Ford could have located a plant there. But nope, they just wanted that low Mexican wage structure. Don’t think Jim Click Ford lowered any prices for Hermosillo built vehicles.
Other then the proving ground in Wittman, Ford has never contributed anything to the Arizona economy. They just suck $$$ out of it. And in the case of Tucson, it’s from a lotta D-M based airmen: they have a steady paycheck!
So Mexico (and Ford) win twice: Mexico gets the yobs, and then they can sneak into El Norte and get...more yobs! Probably at the Ford dealership of their choice with their cousin Manny.
But the Americans just hand over the cash.
Buffing out birdshot strikes on new trucks might not be a good plan....
Ford used to have its Az. Proving Ground in Yucca for decades....
[Helped the Kingman economy [and later Lake Havasu]].
It’s now in Wittman. I mentioned that.
Provides what, 30 jobs and some photo ops?
Somehow Toyota builds Tacos and Camrys in the US and they’re competitive.
Ford could have located the plant in AZ - a Right to Work state since the ‘40s - and been just as competitive.
Pigeons are a problem almost anywhere they are at. Never thought of them being a problem in an auto plant before, but now I understand it all too well. They are filthy birds who mess anywhere they can light.
Sea/Water rats.
I’m glad Yeb (Arbusto) doesn’t have a yob.
Calling Nate Romanowski (a falconer in the C. J Box book series about Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett.)
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