How to keep birds from eating ripe tomatoes?

[mari.beth]

I had to remove A LOT of foliage off of my plants due to blight. Yesterday, since we finally had a break from rain, I went out to spray copper on my plants and noticed holes in two of the almost ripe tomatoes. This afternoon, I caught the culprit in action. As I walked out to water my asparagus, I saw a little brownish bird happily eating a big, almost red Italian Heirloom tomato. I do not want to do anything that might harm birds, but I am not sure of the best way to protect my tomatoes from them. Is there a type of netting that would be best that would not trap birds? Or, are there other ways to keep them from getting all of my ripe tomatoes???