Does anyone have experience in using ultrasonic bird repellers? Do they work or are they just a fancy gadget that actually does very little or nothing?
I need something that won't disturb my neighbours' and rid my large tree of birds. They are making a terrible mess under the tree.
Thank you.
Have you considered a Daisy? I once relocated a flock of geese from my neighborhood with one. They're not as dumb as you'd think: a few plinks in the ass and the whole clan left.
Deadeye
Chop down the tree.
nb
An air rifle would be nice but it wouldn't be long before I was visited by the local constabulary
No way! That tree provides shade for the entire front of the house. It would cost me more for electricity if the tree was gone than it would be to buy another tree or to clean up after the birds for that matter.
Another one of those people who wants nature to bend to their own personal requirments. Duh!! It doesn't work like that. Birds, the tree, the sun, the soil, bird poop, nature, etc, all work in a perfect symbiotic relationship that needs nothing from you. The sun does not quit shining and birds do not quit roosting, eating, and pooping simply because you are inconvenienced.
Now that I cogitate on it awhile, I think your only real solution is to kill yourself.
nb
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HIGH FREQUENCY SOUND DEVICES LACK EFFICACY IN REPELLING BIRDS
WILLIAM A. ERICKSON1 and REX E. MARSH, Wildlife and Fisheries Biology, University of California, Davis,California 95616.
TERRELL P. SALMON, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California, Davis, California 95616.
ABSTRACT: Ultrasonic or high-frequency sound-producing devices are marketed as a scaring or frightening method for bird control. Although inaudible to humans, most birds also do not hear in the ultrasonic frequency ranges of above 20,000 Hz, thus the credibility of advertised claims raises questions. A review of efficacy studies conducted and published by a number of researchers fails to demonstrate the usefulness of such bird control devices.
Proc. 15th Vertebrate Pest Conf, (J. E. Borrecco & R. E. Marsh, Editors) Published at University of Calif., Davis. 1992
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It's a tree. They are birds. That is what birds DO. You nicely provided a place for them to roost, and now you want to chase them off?
Short of cutting down the tree, nothing much you can do that will work on a long-term basis. I'd say get a cat, but their mess is even more disgusting than what the birds leave. Plastic owls, shiny pinwheels, etc, work only until the birds figure out they aren't really a threat. As a kid, we used to put giant nets over the cherry trees so we could at least keep part of the crop from the birds, but it was a major PITA and not real pretty when in place.
If you knew what species the birds were, you might be able to find a recording of their warning cry or the cry of a predator bird to play at regular intervals which might scare them off.
TDD
The Daring Dufas wrote: ...
Indeed...many (I think all that showed up in my search for the previous paper abstract that I had seen some years ago) of the ultrasonic products also have such soundtracks w/ them so testimonials to the effectiveness of the ultrasonic devices probably have absolutely nothing to do w/ the ultrasound component do anything except adding to the marketing hype... :)
I'm not sure how effective such are, either, long term. And, of course, there's the nuisance factor of the cure as well as the actual problem in that route.
Starlings, for example, are terribly persistent about roosting--scare them up at eventide and they'll simply circle and return unless are extremely persistent and often even then a large number will eventually just ignore noise, movement, etc., once dark sets in.
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Thank you. This is very useful information.
R>> Does anyone have experience in using ultrasonic bird repellers? Do they
Yes, it is a tree and they are birds but for some reason there are many times more birds this spring than ever before. We are not feeding them and there is no reason that I can see that they would come to our tree when there are many trees in the neighbourhood that even have feeders attached to them.
The usual number of birds (+ pr -) is ok and not a problem but this is ridiculous.
There are quite a few species involved unfortunately........I wish that the local hawk population would discover the smorgasbord available here.
Ron P
You have a handle on the problem that we face. We have been on the look out for nests in the tree and there are none but if I find any in the future they will be gone in a hurry.
All I can do it seems is to hope that they move on to some other unfortunate's property.
Thanks to all for some useful information.
Ron P
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.
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I must have walked in the barn thousands of times without the fake Owl and the birds didn't give a shit. 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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Forget ultrasound.
Turn on a loud shop vac. Once they get used to that, use the shop vac noise to mask the sound of you plunking the birds (starlings?) with a nice pellet rifle. No one will hear a thing over the vac.
Next questions:
If you walked through the barn with the owl-on-a-pole every time you needed something out of the barn, would the birds in there eventually get used to it and ignore it?
If you permentantly mount the thing, won't they get used to it and ignore it even faster?
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