New Plastic Bird Scarer Installed Today

[mike48]

Hi everyone

I installed one of those plastic bird scarers today on top of my house to stop birds sitting on the TV antenna and pooing on my roof.
They make a bit of a mess.

Mine is a "falcon", and you can get an "owl" also.

Seems to be working well!

cheerio, mike

[cultana]

Yep! seems to be working well. 2 out of 4 birds want to share the antenna with the dummy one...
I hope that represents a 50% improvement for you..

Perhaps birds are not as stupid as we hope.

[artme]

I reckon those Butcher Birds would sort out that falcon look alike any day!

[Clinton1]

chuck a plastic toy snake up there... they seem to work well

[RedShirtGuy]

In the warmer weather someone around our property has an automated eagle screech audio thing that plays the sound every 20 seconds or so. I'm sure it helps to keep the birds away but it is soooooo damn annoying to have to hear it all the time.

One of the local vineyards (I think it's them anyway) also have something like an air gun system that lets off a big bang every few minutes, 24 hours a day on most days. Again, a disturbance to my peace.

Sound travels really well out in these parts. I wouldn't be surprised if Watson knows the sounds I'm talking about as we're from the same town, but in different areas.

A mate gets out his bullwhip to get rid of the cockys but obvisouly you can't be doing that all day...even though it's great fun

Anyway, the point being...at least yours is quiet if not 100% effective

[Sebastiaan56]

Dont be surprised if you have to move it around occasionally. Birds do get used to them. Its very lifelike, where did you get it from?

[Vernonv]

Its very lifelike, where did you get it from?

Tape mouse to antenna .... cover mouse liberally in super glue .... and wait.

[Sebastiaan56]

[kiwigeo]

If you want to scare any living thing away then stick your TV up on the chimney tuned to Channel 9.

[underfoot]

If you want to scare any living thing away then stick your TV up on the chimney tuned to Channel 9.

[kiwigeo]

Right now Im looking at the tin cat on top of my neighbours roof.....and 7 fat bronzewing pigeons parked next to same.

[beer is good]

I have heard that a couple of old CD's strung on fishing lines and hung in a tree keeps the birds away. The CD's move in the wind and the flash from the reflection scares our feathered friends away.

[chrisb691]

Tie a neighbours cat to the antenna..........2 problems solved.

[mike48]

Bird Scarer Update


Well!

I only wanted to get rid of doves, miners, a few starlings etc.

The falcon seems to work, and better than you would think.

But ...our friendly family of butcher birds who used to live in our front trees have desserted us and moved over to live in a scabby palm tree on the other side of our street.
And now I am the villain in our family.

The bird may have to go.

Techo details for interest.
I bought falcon in a garden centre in Carseldine Brisbane for $29.
I see that presently Stratco have them on sale for $19.
Bird is mounted on a leftover piece of 5/16 inch 600m long threaded rod with adjusting nuts and washers underneath, so he can be placed into the TV support pipe, and allows some rotation so as to fool the birds at least a bit. The rod extends inside up to his head.
The bird paintwork was a bit flaky, and I gave him a coat of Cabots Crystal Clear (a godsend to any workshop).

What my photo doesnt show is that 5 minutes after I installed the bird, our butcher birds dive bombed the thing, and nearly wrecked it. In the photo, they are merely having a rest!
There were six of them, and then some miners joined in.
Then the local crows started circling and swooping. (No loss there).
The noise was really something to behold, and I took a video of the aerial circus.
Reinforced my impression of why they call them butcher birds.

But now our family butcher birds wont come "home".
I thought that they might be temporarily tricked and "inconvenienced", but didnt expect the falcon to work so well. I was hoping that they would move back home into our front trees in an hour or a day at most.

I just went outside to check it again, only to see the butcher birds in "the palm tree" and swooping again at the falcon.

I am under some family pressure to remove the falcon before our butcher birds leave our street altogether.

Maybe a few more days.

Well!
My experience so far is that the thing seems to work.
And better than I expected
There are no birds on our house.

cheerio, mike

[mike48]

Hi everyone

The falcon was down a few days after my last post.
Our birds are back.

Three days later, I then put the falcon on the back patio,and within an hour, the magpies and butcher birds had found it and were massing near the patio and making a racket trying to scare it away.
I was attempting to recoup some of my $29 cost by using the falcon to scare away just a few birds who were perching on our patio table and pushbikes ( and pooing on our chairs and bike helmets).

The falcon was deliberately placed out of sight to birds until they actually flew inside the covered patio.

But "they" found it.
It is now fully retired.

A very interesting time around our house.

cheerio, mike