Bird control methods

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by StuM

Hmm, new member, first post - testimonial and link to commercial site?

What is your connection with the advertiser?

Oh Stu, you'r soo cynical

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

Oh Stu, you'r soo cynical

Yep, especially when the linked domain was only registered 3 months ago

[deluxe68]

We put netting over the cockpit, when on a mooring we take the mooring flag and clip it to an unused halyard near the bow. It flops around with the wind and keeps birds off the front.

[Hilda12]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

Hi,

In Sept 20013 I moved my boat from a marina to my own mooring. Within two weeks I was attracting every bird in the bay. I got a real shock when I went to clean the mess to discover almost half an inch of prime whitewash all over my solar panels. The deck was splattered in the stuff and then I discovered that in that short period of time, two nests were made in my two sail booms.

I started researching what to do. I motored around all the other boats and got an assortment of ideas, none of which worked completely. The funniest was those revolving T's about a meter wide, one close to be had a bird in the revolving arm going around and around.

By chance I was speaking the guy I purchased my tackle off and he said in five years he'd never had a bird so much as sail over his boat. His solution was to find a dead seagul and tie it to any part of the boat. He claimed it blacklisted his boat as a 'death boat'. Well, I had nothing to loose so I found a dead bird from an old derilick boat and tied it onto my solar panel.

The first season not a single piece of bird poop. Then from April till November last year my boat was slipped 60 miles away. When I returned it in November, again, no birds in the last 2 1/2 months. They don't even seem to fly over it, but I might be exaggering that.

What methods do others use that work or don't?

I've heard of people saying this ideas. I was not sure on how much it works. But now I can understand the strength of this idea. Last year I went to my husband's guest house with him for a stay for couple of days. We don't often go there, so I was just walking around the home for a look. Suddenly I felt some foul smell in my attic. I was shocked by the scene. The window was left open and the floor was completely filled with bird droppings. It was just horrible to see.
My husband's friend is part of pest control Toronto. It seemed that the birds were still visiting our attic. So we asked him for a solution. He gave us a list of ideas (Bird Control Solutions | Hawkeye Animal Control Toronto). We used bird-shock flex-track. The number of birds kept on reducing day by day, and at last our attic was free from birds. We cleaned the attic and now we don't have to worry about the mess created by birds.

[charliehows]

havent seen this mentioned yet - a boat in my bay installed an audio device called a duckscarer - it broadcasts a range of bird language alarm calls every 15 minutes or so - hasnt been a bird in my part of the bay since it started up - only really effective thing I've seen so far although i havent tried the dead bird in the rigging thing.

[a64pilot]

Most things work, for awhile, then stop. Even propane cannons get ignored by birds.
We ate out the other day, looked away and someone had put plastic Owls on their pilings to scare away birds, they were covered in bird droppings and two of them had a seagull sitting on top of it. Seen plastic snakes on boats too, scared the ***** out of me for a second. Didn't scare the birds though.
Best I've seen on the sound things is they are in the hangar in Lakehurst, they look like loud speakers and turn I guess to simulate moving Hawks or something, the pigeons will sit on top of them enjoying the rotating view.

Everything in the world has been tried to keep birds off of airports, even spraying them with detergent on cold days so they freeze to death and hiring Falcons, nothing seems to work long.


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[Captndave1]

At TSS, our sailing club, we have a serious problem with birds. Our club bought a device that has two loud speakers on the dock and a company programed a series of bird calls that are predators for the local birds. These sounds were played for about 30 seconds then a 5 minute break then 30 seconds of bird calls again. This was a little irritating to listen to, but for the first winter, it worked great, the second winter, not so much. We still have to wash boats almost daily.
I might try the netting or the dead bird next.

[seandepagnier]

I met a guy who had nesting seagulls in his cockpit. He claimed that they kept all the other birds away!


For me, I never have any problems I like birds a lot. in fact I really enjoy when the seabirds take a rest on my boat in mid passage.

[a64pilot]

I too enjoy the company when on passage. Even had a little bird go below and almost immediately tuck his head in and go to sleep, I believe he would have been dead soon if he hadn't found a place to land. Kid nicknamed him Stowaway.
However, the ones that leave me presents on my boat when it's tied in its slip, I'd rather do without. They haven't been bad this year for some reason, different boats around me perhaps?


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[rgleason]

We had a little sparrow join us, first clinging to the sail, then landing on our stern, and hopping over to my sunglasses on my chest (lying down) and pecking on them. Next came investigation of the cabin, which did not take long because its small. Then back to the preferred spot on the stern rail. Meg stayed with us until we anchored. We hoped she'd stay, she left us at dusk.

[stello]

We do a lot of bird prevention in the summer/fall months.

So far our best methods are as follows...

Use 4200 to glue commercial grade plastic bird spikes to every conceivable landing perch on the masthead. Even on top of the tri-color/anchor light, and up the wind transducer arm (use a few zip ties where applicable).

For spreaders I usually attach an eye strap to the mast directly above the spreader about 6" up, then tie monofilament between the eye strap and the cap shroud. This makes it impossible for them to perch up there without getting tangled in or bumped by the mono. Birds hate mono (for whatever reason).

Usually that's enough to get them to move along to the nearest sailboat that doesn't have any prevention systems setup yet.

For deck level I usually recommend stringing mono all over the place (from the mast to several points on deck), but that gets tiresome if you use your boat regularly.

Our most tricky project was on the triadic of a custom 65' ketch. We ended up creating a system with pvc tubes cut to 2' lengths with spikes attached all around each end, then we strung mono between the spikes and slid them all onto the triadic. They spin if birds try land on or in between the spikes. So far the owner says the triadic is now cormorant free.

From what I've seen fake birds and balloons only work for so long.

[savoir]

The dead bird thing works. I've done it with a cormorant in the rigging for a week.

[stello]

Originally Posted by savoir

The dead bird thing works. I've done it with a cormorant in the rigging for a week.

How long do the effects last after the carcass is removed?
And where does one usually acquire a dead cormorant/other seabird?

[savoir]

You shoot the bird with a BB gun. It worked for me for two years. Cormorants are territorial.