Suggestions for an effective bird repeller

[tstano]

Try explaining to them that they taste like chicken.

[sailorboy1]

It has always seemed that birds have favor boats that they regularly visit. The trick to get the birds to like someone else's boat more than yours.

[holmek]

Another help is to cut the inner silver bag from a wine box into strips and hang those in the friggin rigginan scare the muthhers an if'n they aint scared ten you empty a nother box and ang that in tha rig till yoo see whoos gonna give up firs.t

[Kerry1]

Originally Posted by mackrobertson

I have a problem with birds from the trees adjacent to my slip in the marina landing on my rigging & defecating on my boat.

Does anyone have a low-cost solution; ultrasonic or other wise that is truly effective in keeping them away?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wyczafd7gr...d1104.JPG?dl=0

Liveaboard Cats

[mikereed100]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

It has always seemed that birds have favor boats that they regularly visit. The trick to get the birds to like someone else's boat more than yours.

We recently had a problem with a cormorant that would sit on top of our mast at night and vomit up pebbles from his crop. Sounded like firecrackers as they bounced on the cabin top and the solar panels. I ran him off a couple nights in a row with a wrist rocket and jelly beans. Now he sits across the way on Neil Young's boat. I'm not sure whether he likes the boat better or whether he is just trying to get a look at Daryl Hannah in a swimsuit.

[micknor51]

Originally Posted by hamburking

Some boats around here have a plastic own mounted on the spreaders.

I presume that is a plastic owl being mentioned. I have tried this to no avail and have even seen seagulls nesting next to one on a boat close by.
CD's, rubber snakes, flags, and humming line were all ineffective.
The funniest sight was a rotating stick (for want of a better description) on a powerboat nearby whereby the seagull ducked each time it rotated. This reminded me of the school student I taught a few years ago who was stood on a desk ducking up and down as a ceiling fan rotated. He must have got a job educating seagulls.
The only thing that worked for me was netting.
Good luck
Michael

[Christian W.]

Cut a length of humming line slightly longer than the beam of your boat. Tie a shackle to each end, and fasten each shackle to the port and s'board rigging screws, not too tight. The resulting rattle travels all the way up the mast and through the rigging, and is guaranteed to fry the brains of any bird trying it's luck, as well as anyone down below if you have a steel boat like me.

On my former wooden boat I used to smear any solvent onto the boom gallows, boomkinand bowsprit, which worked well especially in summer heat.

[hamburking]

Around here, if you don't "tie off" your halyards, they slap against the mast making an incredibly annoying sound. The local yacht club even has a fine if your boat has this problem. Perhaps we are overthinking...and just let a halyard slap for a while till the birds move along.

Also, laser cats.

[zeehag]

i have one word for ye... C A T, as in feline.
yes they catch birdees.
yes territorial birdees dont like having their kids eaten by a furrbutt. they leave. yaaaaaayyyyyy.
try it.
the fake stuff doesnt work.

btw--slapping halyards arent just annoying, they are damages actually happening with every slap.
this has been known to happen in less than one season of continual slapping, as with the boat next to me in mazatlan.. ruptured the sheath then snapped the core in less than 3 weeks of slapping.
wanna replace halyards then let em slap.
i hear the sound of damages and i laugh, albeit with earplugs in place.

[Kenomac]

Mossberg Mariner 12ga with Surefire weapons lite and side saddle. The final solution.

[edmundsteele]

We have a boathouse / deck over a marine canal and what has worked for us are “disco ball” Christmas decorations. The disco balls, if you are old enough to remember, are balls covered with small rectangular mirrors. In the larger version, these are illuminated by laser spotlights etc. synchronized to the music - but you won’t need this, unless you are trying to get rid of your neighbors as well as the birds. Just buy a pack of the 4 to 6 inch diameter balls from Hobby Lobby or a party supply store; suspend a couple where you have a problem. Same principle as the suspended CD’s, strips of mylar etc. but with more reflective surfaces!
Fair Winds,
Ed

[Cottontop]

One of our manufacturing facilities had a problem with pigeons. They bought a small device that broadcasts sounds of predator birds (hawks screeching, etc.). Seems to work.

No idea how much it cost or how much power it uses, or how annoying listening to the hawks screeching might be.

Don't know if a pelican is afraid of a hawk.

[JPA Cate]

The dead bird method was touted on another thread on this subject.

Fishing line about 3"-4" above the spreaders helps for birds that want to settle there; and also, from the mast to the boom topping lift or backstay over the boom. In addition, I have seen cable ties used on the spreaders, points up, to make "spikes".

Dealing with the ones at the masthead is hardest, but if you happen to be there, the slingshot method works, and we have had good results by banging the shrouds, as mentioned above, but not before the sea eagle bent the windpoint.

Incidentally, I have seen crows peck at the anemometer cups, and destroy them. I hate it when that happens!

Ann

[hgd137]

Originally Posted by mackrobertson

I have a problem with birds from the trees adjacent to my slip in the marina landing on my rigging & defecating on my boat.

Does anyone have a low-cost solution; ultrasonic or other wise that is truly effective in keeping them away?

I have had this problem for years. I have tried everything from plastic owls to CD on strings, reflective tape streamers, a device that periodically viabrates the rigging, an electronic module up the mast emitting a buzzing sound periodically and more. Everything worked for a short period of time until the birds all returned. The solution I found on this forum.

"Find" yourself a couple of dead birds. Tie strings around their cute little feet and hang them dangly from a halyard running up the back stay. It is amazing how pissed off your resident birds become! I would seek refuge at this point if I were you. After a couple of days the birds go away except for a few diving down to view the corpses and then fly away. After a couple of weeks the birds are gone. after maybe a month you can take the bodies down and assure them they did not die in vain. I don't know if the birds will ever return again. So far it has been months for me and my problem appears solved so far.

This is the most effective treatment I have found. (don't tell you wife)

[elknimrod]

At the beginning of the 2014 season I found my dodger, bimini and cockpit with about a solid inch of cormorant crap on them. After 2-3 hours of disgusting cleaning I vowed it won't happen again.
Bought some plastic bird spikes and invested an hour and a half in a bosuns chair installing on the spreaders using the included adhesive and UV resistant zip ties. Doesn't hurt my sails, no bird poop and the birds are gone.I installed a gull sweep on the boom and the birds don't duck it. Cockpit is clean.
I have personally seen all the mentioned methods fail, except maybe the hanging corpses ��.I sat in my cockpit and watched a cormorant balance on a spreader wire for 1.5 hours once, pooping all the while.
Plastic bird spikes are into the second season, no maintenance. Gull sweep takes a minute to deploy using the spare halyard and tied to the boom.
BTW- the best for cleaning after they mess is"Poop Off". Get the stronger one of the two flavors.

Ed
Catalina 350
Cataumet, MA