*Flame On* First of all, let me say that I was also driven from these forums by the lame new interface. At least make the list of new posts BIGGER!!! *Flame Off*
Now desperation has driven me back to the most helpful group of folks I have ever seen, regardless of how crappy the forum interface is (sorry… flame OFF).
Old house, standing seam metal roof. Austin, Texas. Two story, top of a hill. For some reason, a particular breed of bird has decided that the gutters are the perfect size for a pre-fab nest. And they told their friends. And they told their friends. And so on… and so on… and so on…
So now I have probably the largest condo complex of these little chirpers within a hundred mile radius. They are moving into the roof vents and my wife is NOT happy.
Any suggestions?
Thanks so much to all the participants here for sticking it out through the worst migration to the lamest forum format I have ever seen. (Damn flame thrower will NOT go out…)
Replies
there is a product that goes over the gutters. Its a wire mesh. have them on my house to thwart the leaves and nuts from cloggin up the gutters. Might work for you. Find out what the natural predetor of these birds are and see if you can locate a "decoy"
One of the fiberglass owls from the garden centre usually has an effect if you put it up there just before nesting season; and, regular soaking with a hose during nest-building week is very discouraging. Once the eggs have been layed, you're pretty much stuck with them for the season; but get the nests out of there as soon as the little birds have left the nest.
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
You can grab the stile between the two frames with your cursor and drag it to the passenger side to make the list get bigger if you really want it to take up more real estate, or do the right click/open frame in new window thing.
What kind of birds are they? It would be helpful to know. If they are migratory birds, you are forbidden to interfere w/them. If they are house sparrows or rock doves, no problem and not protected.Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good w/ketchup.
BS Even sparrows are protected in some places. Don't blame me!
But since it doesn't ever rain in texas, there's no need for gutters there anyway...
LOLExcellence is its own reward!
Thanks for the feedback, and the tip on expanding the window...
I climbed up and have only found a couple of nests, no eggs...
The screens are going up.
I prefer the screen idea - cheap and effective. But for completeness' sake: There is a SS product that is a metal strip with 4-5" stiff SS wires coming out at all angles. It precludes even pigeons from finding a place to land. I've only seen it at museums, city hall, and stadium entrances - places that have big budgets. Because the stuff is many bucks per linear foot.
David Thomas Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska
I've had great success with the plastic owl decoys. At my previous house, a large maple was home, every evening, to hundreds of starlings. Any thing left under this tree was ruined: house plants, tools, picnic table, nice paint on your car, etc. I tried pie plates, rubber snakes, banging on the tree at roosting time, nothing worked.
I finally paid $6.00 for a plastic owl, climbed up into the tree (again), cut off a branch and stuck the owl on. That evening the birds stayed away, and have stayed away ever since (12 years). Magic.
I tried the owl decoys once and after a week or so, birds roosted on it. Some people would bitch even if they were hung with a new rope.
Maybe starlings are just easily duped.
biz- run a wire from your electric fence
Running a wire from an electric fence won't accomplish anything. The birds would have to be standing on the ground while they touched the gutters to get shocked.
The world's full of apathy, but I don't care
yes, but I like the idea...