Bilge Birds

[Aggie]

Or sky-rats, if you prefer.

I have pigeons brooding on my balcony.  The first pair of squablings are pretty much fledged out, and I figured that might be the end of that (have tolerated them as they were wee ugly babies when I first clued in), but the rotten overbred parent birds have dropped another brace of new eggs - possibly tonight - on the nest. 

It's preferable to not kill off the eggs (a nudge off the balcony suffices), but I can't see any other way of keeping them from turning the place into one giant crap-pile.  If they weren't city-fed garbage guzzlers I'd eat all of 'em.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I've been told, that plastic-but-realistic models of owls work quite well at frightening roof-rats-- especially if placed on a slightly springy mount, such that it moves with the wind.

There's even a battery one with sound-effects:  http://www.solutions.com/jump.jsp?itemID=10631&itemType=PRODUCT

[Aggie]

Hmph, I went and poked at the squabblets with a stick (gently, mind), and that didn't provoke more than a couple of blinks.  Too late to scare the blighters, I think. In any case, if it was too realistic, the magpies (who often visit and whom I would be happy to host if they nested on 'cliffs') would probably mob it*.

I just need a roof-rabbit to get after the roof-rats.  Incidentally, we have real rabbits (hares) in the city but no rats in the province.



_{*Corvids are probably too bright for this.}

[Lindorm]

In our former flat, we had a pigeon infestation problem on the balcony. Darlica's solution was quite ingenious. In some home decoration store, she found some sort of decorative garlands with little mirror prisms on clear nylon thread. This she fastened across the outer face of the balcony, from the railing to the underside of the floor of the one above, a few strands here and there. It did look a bit weird, but it worked like a charm, and we were probably the only ones in the area without a pigeon problem on our balcony. Our plants hid quite a bit of the mirror strands from view when you looked at the balcony from our perspective, so it wasn't much of a eyesore from our view either.

[Darlica]

I was trying to find a picture but I can't find any.

It startes as L said with garlands but as they become worn out I made my own using heavy duty fishing line and little square mirrors normally used for making mosaic (and a very aggressive glue ).

[Swatopluk]

If an owl gets mobbed, then maybe one of these


Airports use canned bird of prey cries.

[Aggie]

I probably won't get away with the reflective strips in this building (owner-occupied condos for the most part, with a few renters, like us).

The trouble at the moment is not how to keep them off the balcony, but how to GET them off the balcony - i.e. prevent repeat nesting.  I've moved some of the items they were hiding behind and 'accidentally' rolled the two new eggs out of the nest so that they will not be incubated (the parents are free to move them in, but they were leaving the babysitting to the teenagers, apparently). 

[Swatopluk]

Maybe a shot of sodium hypochlorite solution (bleach, WC cleaner) could do the trick. I doubt that the birds like that smell.

[Sibling DavidH]

I have heard that just the outline of a hawk (say, in cardboard) will trigger their flight (as in run away) instinct.  I think it has to be like a plan view with wings outstretched.
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/hawk-decoys-scare-away-pigeons-and-pest-birds-894951.html

[Aggie]

Maybe a shot of sodium hypochlorite solution (bleach, WC cleaner) could do the trick. I doubt that the birds like that smell.

Hmm... couldn't hurt once the fledglings leave; at the least it might partially disinfect the area.  I'd have to watch carefully for runoff, though.   

Probably impossible to rig a hawk decoy in the correct location, being on the 10th floor and all.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Just hang it on the roof of the balcony.

[Griffin NoName]

Or invite some Republicans around

[Swatopluk]

That would attarct the vultures and carrion crows that would keep the pigeons at bay. I'd call that a cure that is worse than the desease (I mean the GOPsters. Whether vultures would be worse than pigeons depends on the species)

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Or invite some Republicans around

A pigeon and it's droppings are infinitely more tolerable than any republican you can find, talk about a cure [faaaaaar] worse than the disease.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

I've seen those plastic owls being perched on by sky rats around here. The raptor cries, would probably work. Get a little tape deck or something and play them when you notice them house shopping.