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.

[Aggie]

I wonder if dummy eggs would fool them enough to keep further batches from being laid?  I could probably render the current two non-viable if they are not already (have been sitting out of the nest for a few days).

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Actually that is a technique used to prevent excessive egg laying with many pet birds, so it should work.

[Sibling DavidH]

While you're at it, make some booby-trapped eggs.    

[Aggie]

That'd startle 'em, but where would I get booby eggs?

[Sibling DavidH]

Hmm...
Good point.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Here?

http://theeggshop.com/

[Aggie]

Finally evicted those nasty bilge-birds today.  They have been looking rather well fledged lately, and I've suspected they could fly, but despite pushing them to the edge of the balcony, they haven't made the jump.  Today I caught one shitting on top of my BBQ (lid), an impossible climb, and the jig was up - took after 'em with a broom* and they managed to manically flap and stumble their way to another balcony.  They must have had practiced, as they were able to hover and attempt to get back on the porch. 


_{*prodding and shooing, I didn't whack 'em.}

The eggs disappeared in a windstorm or due to clumsy siblings, I think; need to destroy and bleach the nest nook now.

[Swatopluk]

Nuke the site from orbit...

[Sibling DavidH]

Nuke the site from orbit...

Come on, Swato, that's a bit extreme!  Just leave a suitcase nuke under the nest.
BTW what about a so-called neutron bomb (fusion direct by chemical explosives without the fission stage)?  It would do less damage to the balcony. 

[Aggie]

No need to use nuclear WMDs - adding a little muriatic acid during the bleach-out should do just fine. 

[DaveL]

Went to a Chinese resturant in Sydney a few weeks ago.  It was a banquet and the dishes were coming out thick and fast.  As the guest of honour was an elderly Chinese gentleman, the dishes lent more to the "non-western" exotic dishes.

After navigating through eating jellyfish and sharkfin, the next dish that came out was poultry of some type.  As it was deep fried and coated in 5-spice, my first impression was, crispy fried duck.

That was until I saw the deep fried head! It was staring at me on the platter.

It was Flying Rat.

mmmmmmmm...

[Aggie]

LOL, rat-head fritters - did there be fish-head stoo?

[Darlica]

Dove/pigeon can be really tasty. However I doubt that eating city pigeons aka. Flying Rats can be considered healthy... the woodland variety should be fine though.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Are you telling me that those organic, free range pigeons aren't good to eat?

[Aggie]

Free range maybe, organic - no.  They eat lots of human food scraps.

_{...and I'd never consume humans, have you seen what they eat?} 

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

That's why you should only eat free range vegans. 

[Aggie]

Cooking vegan isn't easy - but they're so tender!

[pieces o nine]

A favorite park back in Wiscaaaaahnsin was infested by home to enormous herds of a flock of seagulls (non pop-stars branch of the family). One day my 'Little' and I were enjoying a picnic when I observed an extremely large-wing-spanned creature hovering about 2 feet above my head, according to my shadow. (She was waiting for me to either notice the shadow or the bird with the fascination tweens have at seeing adults in potential peril.)

"Is it the Holy Spirit?" I asked her.   

"I don't think so," she laughed.   

So we moved to the safety of the car and held future picnics at seagull-free locations. The first seagull or two are kind of neat. After the third or fourth hundred thousand, they start losing their appeal...

[Swatopluk]

Seagulls can get really nasty, esp. if they find a person helpless. As far as I know crows and other corvids usually wait until a potential large food source is dead. As countless horror stories of shipwreckees tell, seagulls don't. And they start with the eyes.

[Darlica]

Seagulls, like most other successful breeds of animals (including humans) are opportunists.
There are horror stories about a lot of different birds. Here stories and superstition almost lead to complete extinction of our ravens, them being a symbol/omen of bad luck as they where said to congregate around the gallows before an execution among other things.

I like seagulls, but they do belong in the archipelago or near lakes not in the cities living on trash.

[Swatopluk]

I love the call of the Laughing Gull* in the morning. It sounds like hilarity.
But the standard seagulls looks better.
Albatrosses look even better but they are rare in these parts

*Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)

[Darlica]

When I was a kid I used to call Laughing Gulls "Chocolate Dipped Gulls" I thought they looked like they had dipped their head in a cup of drinking chocolate.

[Swatopluk]

They simply put the wrong head on in the morning