Bird Poop - Who Needs it ?

[Bill Lee]

A gun that shoots cats?????

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Bill Lee

A gun that shoots cats?????

If they can have catapults, why can't they have catapistols?

(The point here was that having a cat on board doesn't actually solve the bird problem. I don't see how people think that plastic owls will help when a live cat, even when on deck, accomplishes nothing. And no, I never actually throw Scupper at birds. He's too heavy, and with that huge tail he resists a tight spiral.)

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Bill Lee

A gun that shoots cats?????

Guns don't shoot cats -- people shoot cats! But only really unpleasant people do this.

But, how about leaving some nice fresh fish on the deck of you least favored neighbor's boat???

Cheers,

Jim

[TEE]

I had a boat in City Marina in Charleston until I left for the BVI last year. Every year, the same: Pigeons, Grackles, then an owl! Well, I thought, the owl will run all the birds away from here. Not true. Birds are stupid. They let the owl grab them, haul them up on my mast mounted radome, and disembowel them. I would come down to the boat, and what wasn't covered in bird crap, looked like a little birdie horror movie had been filmed there. There were bird guts, legs, beaks, heads, and wings scattered literally all over my boat. I then declared war on the little feathered "rats with wings."

I bought rubber blow up snakes and put them on the deck. They roosted on them and crapped on them. I bought a plastic owl. It seemed to work for about three days, then the birds figured they could ignore it. I tried flash tape. I strung in on a messenger tied to a halyard and raised a streamer of some 20 pieces of flash tape. That slowed them down for about two days. I did find a way to keep them out of my cockpit. I strung monofiliment fishing lines tightly all over the cockpit in all different directions. Apparently, they can't see small diameter clear lines well and if they are strung right, birds that try to fly through get hung up and ensnarled in the lines. I knew I was on the right path when I stepped into the cockpit one morning and saw bird feathers hung up in my fishing line. Then the birds tended to stay away from the cockpit and helm. I extended the fishing line trick by stringing it in my lazy jacks, and that protected my sail cover from pelting. I also hung some junk cds all over the place with strings under the belief that would scare them. Finally, I downloaded screams of dying birds, predatory birds, shotgun blasts, and lions off the internet, made a play list, and began playing it at full volume in the mornings and evenings when most of the birds roosted. What I ended up with was a boat so covered in tightly strung fishing line, hanging cds, and flash tape that screamed so loudly the predatory sounds I taped through the cockpit speakers, it was not practical for me to take it out without two hours of dismantling my bird stuff, which was still covered in dung.

[Bill Lee]

Jim's idea sounds good....

[Uncle Bob]

Hey I have had good results with a flat nylon line stretched tight between whatever points I can anchor it to. Sold here as birdscare humming line, it works, HONEST.

[sailorboy1]

It the marine where I stored for the winter there was a boat with a life size manican (sp). It looked like a Halloowee thing that had been left up for 5 months. But then I noticed there wasn't any bird poop on the boat.

[sww914]

I had some success with realistic plastic snakes. Probably a 50% to 75% decrease, poop is hard to measure.
I was on a dock in front of a restaurant in Morro Bay. The best part was explaining to the tourists that they were, in fact real snakes that I had trained and they survived on seagull poop.

[Sabbatical II]

I've been trying to find a way to keep petty thieves off my boat. If I put a warning sign up I think I can electrify the lifelines. Surely the birds woudn't like it either although if I fried a bird that couldn't read I'd probably end up in court.

Greg

[Ex-Calif]

Put a couple of bird feeders on your neighbors boat and fill it up every time you leave your boat.

[Bill Lee]

I bought some netting and strung that over the foredeck and railings so it hangs ove the side of the boat. It covers about 2/3 of the foredeck. Its been only 2 days - but so far - no poop there! The netting will roll up into a small bundle. Jackite will arrive shortly - hopefully I can use that and pout the netting away.... Cheers,
Bill

[Pelagic]

I made up long strings of small poly line.... where I spliced/threaded in old VHS tape giving 2 x 8” tails at about 12” intervals.

They flutter in the slightest breeze like telltales, set just above the teak cap rails and I also run up triangles on the flag halyards…. Works perfect when we are parked at moorings and off the boat for a while.

Our neighbors get the bird **** we get none.

The sun turns them clear after about 8 months but they still work

[Bill Lee]

The Jackite (kite of the Bald Eagle) came in and I assembled it. Its pricey. Its made of a paper like plastic material called Tyvek - super tuf. The assembly process was terrible. The instructions state that a 12 year old could do it in 1 hour (was this an intentional insult?). While awaiting drying times - it took 3 days but only about 2 actual hours of time. I wanted waterproof glue so that cost an additional $10 for me. An assembled bird costs only $8 more.... The instructions leave alot to be desired so I went to the website to look for instructions and ..... they had instructions for all birds EXCEPT the Bald Eagle! I digress.... I used some zap straps to tie a golf ball extractor (12' long - at full extension - aluminum pole meant to fetch golf balls from the brink - $15.00) to my foredeck railing and attached a 10' long fishline to the bird. It flies really well even in light winds. I am happy to report that so far - NO POOP! IT WORKS! I just have to show up every couple of days and de-tangle the bird (it tends to get wrapped around the pole). Thanks for all the ideas. Cheers,
Bill

[IdoraKeeper]

My neighbors boats are sparkling. I dare not clean my own. I wear nothing but ship yard clothes to the dock. They are watching me-- I think they know.

Todd

[SaucySailoress]

Try this: