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Bird control: mirror or rubber snake

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by bwilson4web, Oct 19, 2018.

  1. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Recently, a mocking bird started leaving guano on the car and J1772 handle. So I went to a couple of wild bird stores to buy a rubber snake or plastic owl. They had neither so I ordered a bag of small rubber snakes when the last clerk reported it has to be moved or it loses its effectiveness. Then tonight I bought a 9" mirror. Birds will attack their image so no motion is required.

    So my question is which works best?

    My plan is to mount the mirror on the trunk above a branch. Then wash the car. If the guano does not return, I'll know the mirror worked. My fall back is to mount one or more snakes with a single fastener through the center of gravity. Wind and bird attacks will handle animating the rubber snake.

    So which do you think works best?

    Bob Wilson
     
  2. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    Easy!
    .25-cal scoped pellet rifle.
    I use a HATSAN 125 myself, which is about the strongest non-pcp rifle on the market (25ish fpe) but rich retirees like you can probably afford a pcp setup like one of the Air Force models.
    Just think of the fun you can have with a 200-bar compressor and tank!! :D

    PITA friendly alternative:
    Hungry feline.
    (Probably not weenie-dog friendly!)

    If my choices are limited to rubber snake or mirror, I'd have to have more detailed data but I'm going to presume that the mirror will be more effective once properly oriented, and less maintenance intensive.

    I'd encourage you to post results, graphs and pictures, but you always do so anyway.

    Good Luck!
     
    #2 ETC(SS), Oct 19, 2018
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2018
  3. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    An option used for gardens is hanging pie tins. The reflected flashes of light from their movement is suppose to scare birds.

    But then mockingbirds are in the jay family and related to crows, leaving them on the more intelligent side of the bird gene pool.

    You could just throw some of those snakes onto the car and EVSE when parked. That should be enough movement for most birds to not catch on to them being fake.
     
  4. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    [unrelated rambling of an old man]

    When i went to work at the gold mine, they were under scrutiny for killing more migratory birds than any other mine in Nevada, it turned out that was because we weren't lying about how many we killed. (each Canada Goose costs $1000)

    We had two pair of Barren (no gold, just cyanide) and Pregnant (gold in solution with cyanide) ponds. Being in the Pacific Flyway, we saw a great many birds, searching for water to land in to rest and continue their migration. Cyanide is bad. (They now use Sodium Thiosulfate where they can, instead of Cyanide)

    When I first arrived, they were using mechanical owls, they tried projected owls, shot gun blanks, and nets; to discourage birds from landing and dying.

    Some employee in the late 90s, watching his children play at McDonalds, began to consider the 'crystal' formation of play place balls. They automatically form a regular pattern to prevent blank areas on water, rendering it a matte Red, Yellow or Blue rather than shiny water. He stole some play place balls and began to experiment with them. His experiment convinced him he was on the right track so he stole more balls and showed a small pond it to management.

    1) It attacks the root cause. Since birds never see a shiny surface below them they do not land and die.
    2) It is maintenance free, the balls always form a tight crystal surface. (Eventually the balls sink, due to weathering)
    3) Management is going to have to apologize to MsDonalds for having stolen enough play place balls to cover a small pond several layers deep.
    4) No one had any idea how to buy play place balls rather than steal them.

    Some brave mine manager went to the local McDonalds and admitted one of our employees had been stealing balls, and offered to buy a entire new set of balls if the Manager would give him the name and address where they got them. We bought WAY more than they wanted, so we would up with more colored balls. But more importantly, we ordered a great many black balls, less reflective, retains heat in winter.

    I retired in 2002 and there were still a substantial percentage in Red, Yellow, and Blue among the Black balls. When I last was a contractor there in 2005 there were only a very few colored balls.
    Pacific Flyway - Wikipedia
    Pond Balls | Ballast Balls | Barrier Balls | Bird Balls | IEC
    Sodium thiosulfate - Wikipedia
     
    #4 JimboPalmer, Oct 19, 2018
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2018
    bwilson4web and fuzzy1 like this.
  5. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    LOL!
    You know when I glanced at the title of this thread?
    I read:
    "Birth Control: Mirror or Rubber Snake? "

    I rapidly clicked on it.

    Imagine my disappointment to find a rather mundane discussion on how to best keep birds from defecating on your vehicle.
    I was expecting a real extreme discussion here, bordering on a ban level tone.

    Sigh...

    As far as birds defecating on your vehicle?
    Well...
    Insert Abstinence Joke Here.
     
  6. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    Birth Control Mirrors - it is OK to point but not to laugh and point.
     
    The Electric Me likes this.
  7. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    Effective.
     
  8. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Driving past some farm fields, I see brightly colored and highly reflective mylar tapes, long and twisted, so that as they oscillate a bit in the breeze, the sunlight-lit reflective patch visible from a given vantage point is moving back and forth at very high speed.

    Also, some brightly colored and reflective spinners are hung from phone or TV cable lines (not the power lines above), to also move and flash in any breeze.
     
  9. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    Flash tape used around gardens would likely work too..
     
  10. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    That is the same principle as the pie tins.

    The balls are also used to reduce evaporation of ponds, and are even available in lab water bath sizes.
     
  11. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    Old CD's or DVDs (if you can find them) will work as well as pie-tins, but I'm thinking that Mrs @bwilson4web would prefer a more subtle deterrent.....
     
  12. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    People tie used CD's in tree branches.
    Doesn't seem to help.

    Amazon has products which appear to be CD like reflective disks....with "predator eyes" on them.

    All seems pretty primitive,- hopeful.

    Over the years, my observation is we tend to over value our supposed rung as the apex life form on the planet. That is, birds, dogs, cats, dolphins, the entire barnyard, forest and jungle is a LOT smarter than we often think.

    We can hang mirrors, buy plastic owls, and put more rubber snakes on the plane than Samuel L. Jackson can handle and if a bird wants to dump on your car?
    Your best investment is into a good microfiber cloth and some detailer spray.
     
  13. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Pie tins will reflect significant sunlight light in only a few directions at a time, and won't appear to move much. But a very long spiral of slightly twisted mylar tape reflects in essentially an omnidirectional pattern, and small oscillations in the twist are greatly magnified in the preceived motion of the reflected sunlight.

    The greatly amplified apparent motion is similar to the concept of a Moiré pattern - Wikipedia.
     
    #13 fuzzy1, Oct 19, 2018
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2018
  14. iplug

    iplug Senior Member

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    Could also try an ultrasonic repeller.

    We have a couple of these to mitigate outdoor cat turds in our planters. It has been about 90% effective for us in the zones covered. They are much more directional than human audible sound.

    However, an undesirable side effect we experience might have a positive bearing on your situation: the ultrasonic devices have cut down on bird visitors to a similar degree.
     
  15. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    But the pie tins or CDs are generally free, heading for the trash or recycling.
     
  16. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    But 'free' usually doesn't include the cost of time and effort to try it, and cleanup after failed tries.

    I have often rejected 'free' things for being too expensive when the accompanying costs are included.
     
  17. iplug

    iplug Senior Member

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    Cost opportunity...Count myself usually in that camp.

    But would bet Bob remains up for the right engineering challenge large and small.
     
  18. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    They may work against this specific bird.

    Personally, I'm leaning towards nothing working until the reason for why the bird choose this spot is discovered.
     
  19. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    A few weeks ago, I discovered multiple plops of the same stuff on the PTO coupling / U-joint (power take-off shaft from tractor to machine) of a piece of dad's farm equipment. When disconnected, the shaft is propped up on a hanger, making a convenient slightly-elevated perch for a bird to rest and watch.

    Tied an oil rag on the spot to collect any future dropping, keeping them out of the U-joint bearings.
     
  20. KennyGS

    KennyGS Senior Member

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