Competing With Wildlife for Blueberries and Figs

The birds are eating my blueberries and figs. I always have a lot of trouble with birds in the fig bush. I tried to scare them away by cutting s piece of hose and laying it in the bush so that it looked (hopefully) like a snake. It did not work (predictability). After all, birds spend their very lives being on the lookout for snakes and other predators, so they should know what a snake looks like.
I looked at Lowe's and Home depot before making my way to WalMart searching for a snake. I did find one there, but I think it is about as good as that hose. The hose was bright yellow. This snake is neon green with a bright red tongue.I put it up in the tree anyway. Maybe it it mildews a bit it will look more snake-like. You just can't buy a good plastic snake these days!
I have about quit picking blueberries because of the heat. Maybe it is only fair to leave some for the birds and squirrels. But who am I kidding. I would get every lasting one if it were not for the heat. The bushes are shaded in the late afternoon, but usually by that time I have already been as hot as I want to be for one day, and just do not go outside again.
Someone recommended that I cover the ground under the bush with a sheet and shake the blueberries off, collecting them in the sheet. Sounds like a good idea, but the execution of the idea is more difficult. Firstly, my bush is more of a copse than a single bush. Sprouts surround the central stem so it is tricky to get the whole thing surrounded with a sheet. I did try it once earlier, but when I shook the bush, almost none fell off. At that point I had been picking regularly. I assume they need to be dead ripe for this technique to work. So... maybe if I try again now, it would work better.
Somehow I don't mind the birds as bad as I do the squirrels, even though there are more of them and probably do more consuming. Those squirrels are just downright greedy. They snatch whole handfuls and pack them in their mouths and run off. I know if they hide them somewhere they just rot, so no good is coming of their theft. Besides, all their jumping around in the bush shakes a lot of berries off on the ground. (Maybe I should enlist the squirrels to shake my bushes.)
I wonder if I am any different from the squirrels as the bucket of figs I already picked still sit in the refrigerator.