Jeff The Drunk wrote:
On Mon, 24 May 2010 09:18:23 -0500, dpb wrote:

Jeff The Drunk wrote:
On Mon, 24 May 2010 10:05:28 -0400, Worn Out Retread wrote:

Some neighbours of ours tried them but the effect wasn't long lasting.
The many orchards in the area use cannons that give a boom at
irregular times but that isn't practical in an urban setting for
obvious reasons.

There are many cats in the area but they have proven to be next to
useless in bird control as they must be well fed and therefore not
interested in birds.
Has anyone suggested a plastic Owl? I've seen them used around here. In
my youth we used to scare pigeons and doves out of the barn with a
stuffed Owl perched on a wooden stand. When you walked into the barn
with that thing the birds couldn't fly out fast enough.
That was you they were reacting to and the movement, not the fake owl.
I've both barn and great horned owls nesting in the same hayloft as well
as the upper levels of the grain elevator leg house w/ the pigeons--they
don't give a hoot (so to speak) about 'em either way...the owls don't
bother the pigeons and the pigeons don't interfere w/ the owls.

I must have walked in the barn thousands of times without the fake Owl
and the birds didn't give a ****. They were used to people walking in and
out since the barn was used to store tools and hay among other things.
Walk in with the stuffed Owl however and they scattered as fast as they
could.

Differently trained crowd, then... they don't give a crap here about
owls, stuffed or the real thing but will scatter on movment. And, the
barn here is used daily w/ much traffic as well.

I've always been surprised the owls don't even bother w/ the young 'uns
when they're just beginning to move about but they don't.

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