As for the strawberries there are short/long/early/late season varieties to choose from so you'll need to decide which ones you want for your purposes (like just for fresh eating or canning). Critters can be a problem (birds, rabbits, squirrels, slugs, snails) but rot/mold/fungus were my biggest problems here. Keeping the berries off of the ground by surrounding the plants with a layer of pine needles helped with these rot/slug issues. Netting can help with deterring the birds and the 4 legged critters, it depends on how hungry they are.

For me, it's not the birds, it's the chipmunks. They can dig, so I'd recommend a cover that you can seal to the ground pretty well. I don't have an insect problem, but blight/gray fuzz is a problem. That's from too much dampness/humidity that a row cover might encourage, since it would prevent breezes.