A scarecrow is a device – traditionally a human figure or mannequin dressed in old clothes – placed in fields by farmers to discourage birds such as crows from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.

Crows can be a substantial problem for gardens in the springtime. They can work down a row pulling up recently sprouted corn to eat the remaining seed/seedlings. In the southern Appalachians another common method of scaring off crows was use of a dead crow hung upside down from a pole.

Modern scarecrows seldom take a human shape. On California farmland, highly reflective aluminized PET film ribbons are tied to the plants to create shimmers from the sun. Another approach is automatic noise guns powered by propane gas.