How do I get rid of a bird?

[mike]

Every morning shortly after dawn, a big black bird does a woodpecker imitation on my metal roof vent. Of course, he picks the one that vents the bathrooms, so the racket reverberates all over the house...and wakes the dead...that'd be me... He pecks, looks around, repeats a few times then moves on to the next house. Suspect he's marking his territory.

I'm in the city, so the obvious solution involving lead projectiles is not an option.

How do I scare him off? I'm not above killing the little pecker. A sound-activated stun gun sounds like a fun project. Suggestions?

[mike]

And it might be spooked by this:

[John]

You really need to figure out what kind of bird you're talking about, and why it finds your roof so interesting. If it's a grackle or a starling, you can download some sounds of hawks and play those when the bird gets near. A twenty dollar owl replica also can dissuade them for a while. These are only permanent if the bird doesn't have a vested interest in returning, as they will eventually learn to ignore the owl or hawk sounds, and come back if there's a good reason.

John

[Stormin Mormon]

Hmm. Was it the shiny foil that drove you away, or the water cooler gossip? Did someone shoot you with plastic bullets?

[Don Phillipson]

He is drumming up (sex) trade, and has identified your metal vent as the noisiest in his territory. You can expect this to continue for about a month. If you shot this one, it seems likely another would take over his territory and might make the same identification. If earplugs do not help enough, you could try to interest some nearby college that teaches ornithology.

[Steve B]

I have squirrels in my attic. Should I do anything, or just move out and let them have the WHOLE house?

Steve

[willshak]

Steve B wrote the following:

Find out where they are getting in and seal it. I found out how chipmunks were getting into the soffits of my pool house. I had vinyl siding and they were crawling up the hollow corner pieces which extended into the soffit. I shoved some SS scrubbing pads up into the bottom of the corner pieces, then sprayed some expanding foam inside it to keep it in there. No more chipmunks.

[krw]

Are they Mexican?

[Marina]

"Don Phillipson" wrote in news:hr9vc3$b7g$ [e-mail]:

How long has the bird been doing this? You say every morning, but has it only been a week? That's not long. We had a bird doing this to the metal cap on the chimney. Then it would sometimes go into the back yard and drill on the metal swing set. Eventually the bird goes away. It's annoying and your bird may or may not return the next year. Ours came back again on following years. We didn't feel the need to get rid of the bird even tho it was a bit bothersome and woke us up. Is it still making noise since to wrote your original message?

[Ron]

Please point out to me where I said to do NOTHING.

I had squirrels in my attic once also, I blocked off their access. Hello?

[Ron]

He'd rather shoot holes in his roof trying to hit the squirrels. lol

[The Daring Dufas]

A customer of mine had problems with pigeons on the roof of his deli so he put up an owl decoy and when I climbed on the roof to check his AC unit, I found a pigeon screwing the decoy.

TDD

[Steve B]

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

The sound of a projectile passing over empty air spaces. Several of them.

It was a joke, son. A joke, ahhhh said.

-Foghorn Leghorn-

Steve

[Steve B]

Please point out to me where I said to do NOTHING.

I had squirrels in my attic once also, I blocked off their access. Hello?

Reply: Yes. Go ahead. What are you calling about?

Steve

visit my blog at

watch for the book

[Ron]

There is a "whoosh" alright, in your head, since you are speaking to yourself.

[Ron]

Looks to me like you really do have squirrels in your "attic".

[Steve B]

There is a "whoosh" alright, in your head, since you are speaking to yourself.

REPLY: You really still don't get it, do you?

Steve

visit my blog at

watch for the book

A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

[Ron]

There is nothing to "get". You thought your "joke" was so funny, that you responded to yourself. Now THAT is funny!

[Ron]

They are called milk crates.

[Ron]

Ignore my previous post.