They can also be horrifically cruel. I've seen a pigeon die after getting impaled on those kinds of spikes and it was a traumatic experience for me, let alone the poor bird. I really appreciate your attempts to solve this problem without resorting to inflicting pain, or worse.
I agree with you about sharp metal spikes. Those are really terrible and I feel bad for any bird that gets injured by those.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Bird-X-Plastic-Polycarbonate-Spikes-A...
That said, I don't mind it, watching the birds is fun.
It solved the problem for good. Its not a perfect solution, obviously: i had to implement a master override which stopped it when terrace doors were open, also it only fired at horizon or below since I didnt want to accidentally light up a plane (there is an airport 5km from where I live). We dont have kids, and rarelh entertain guests, so I didnt need to implement additional safety Measures. Lastly, it was running on a pretty beefy pc and was consuming around 60w constantly.
We fixed the problem for good by moving out. If i had to do it again, I'd try with water pistols, way safer than laser.
I would expect that ambient lighting changes are harder to compensate for when selecting targets.
It is, however, terribly irresponsible to do this, since temporary reflectors like water puddles or a misplaced water glass can be inadvertently weaponized.
For small areas, an overhead water sprinkler would be much, much safer and not need aiming at all.
It’s amazing what humans are capable of achieving while avoiding doing something else.
Amazing phenomenon.
Feel free to ask any questions :)
https://www.bunnings.co.nz/pope-25mm-solenoid-valve-with-flo...
You can get attachments that allow all sorts of jets, drips and spray patterns.
It would probably plug in nicely in place of the water gun. However drilling through the wall and messing with the plumbing isn’t for everyone.
I’m thinking about a auto-aiming gun for the next iteration, though.
- One big spoon of cinnamon
- One big spoon of chilli peppers
- Half a bottle of cheap, cleaning vinegar
Spray it in all the places that the pigeons want to land. I am doing that once a week and it is enough to keep them away. If you clean your whole balcony with it, you might be able to go through most of the spring - when I think they really get annoying because they are looking for a place to make a nest.
Perhaps the cinnamon or vinegar are the true repellents?
Evidence for this is that pepper varieties tend to be spicier in wetter environments, where the biological resources spent on producing capsaicin to fight fungus are more valuable than preserving them in case of drought.
feed them occasionally on your balcony… birds are smart and they will not poo in their food plate.
Cooked pasta works well, nothing will be left when they leave.
Will make things a little more robust (and overengineered!).
Doesn't bother the birds, but mammal tongues light right up.
First 2 years under a sponsor--you can get a very specific hawk or falcon (which hawk or falcon is geographically dependent) After 2 years & sponsor approving it-- you are now a general falconer. Have fun with other raptors, including owls. OTOH.... Wild Owls: excellent pest control.
This year I found an egg again. I threw it away.
(that's how I learned about the magpie situation, was away long enough to have an entire laying-hatching sequence after leaving when freshly sterilized, I suspect they gave up early, magpie discovered and took the abandoned eggs, remembered the spot and came back to the chicks after the next breeding attempt - pure speculation but the schedule would just fit my absence)
There are all kinds of small and big birds that visit our balcony, especially in what passes for winter these days.
1. Looked like crap. Scifi minitowers in my yard. Hoses stretched here and there. 2. Randomly activating at night. Not loud but quite audible, and disturbing. 3. Occasionally zapped people, skunks, cats.
So I sold them to a friend (they aren't cheap)
Starlings can sing melodic songs too, and I don’t mind those, but what I hear most often are their screeches. They are literally doing it right now outside my window. I wonder if it’s a territorial ”song” that I’m hearing more often than Europeans do since they’re an invasive species in the US, or if this particular call is a learned behavior from the population in my city.
The only theoretical solution that I’ve come up with so far is something that listens for the offending sound pattern, verifies that it’s also a “small dark bird” via camera, and then chases it off a water gun or laser or pocket nuke or stern words or whatever. All of that tech is beyond me, but I’ve definitely fantasized about it ever since they showed up here a few years back.
but yeah it's extremely rare for me to see sparrows unlike my childhood in small hometown 25-30 years ago, might be because of size of town
Now we have more birds than I've ever seen.
They're still out there.
When i lived in a small appartment with a baclony i was advised to get a (small) statue of an owl to get rid of pigeons. I bought one at our local el-cheapo market and it seemed to do the job. Didn't monitor it though, becuase i didn't care that much.
I found them quite effective at supplementing a fence to keep deer out of areas they shouldn't be in.
The biggest limitation I've found is that it takes a bit of soldering iron adventure if you want to have a remote disable switch. :)