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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Birds n' Apples

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  • From: Thomas Olenio <tolenio@sentex.net>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Birds n' Apples
  • Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 14:38:19 -0400

Hello,

Takes more than a decoy owl to keep birds at bay.

What I have learned...

1) Make a few whirligigs of different designs.

2) Move whirligigs to new locations every few
days (rotate them around)

3) Use plastic propellors intended for model planes,
attaching foil to the blades so they flash. These blades
spin in the lightest of breeze. The type of props you
see on balsa wood, rubber band planes

4) Use mylar streamers on whirligigs

5) Use black, red, and yellow colors (vivid, bold)

6) Make your whirligigs as light as possible so they
move in the slightest of breeze. Construct them with
mylar and wire if you can.

7) If you use a decoy owl, move it to various locations,
every couple of days, and set it up so it moves (suspend
it from a wire). The owl is only one facet of a multi-faceted
bird campaign.

You are not going to "scare" the birds away, but you are going to make them
very uncomfortable.
If you were a bird and could feed anywhere, would you choose a place to feed
where you felt
uncomfortable? That is the goal.

The movement bothers them as it catches their attention, looking for a
predator. Same thing
happens with the foil reflectors (flashing catches their attention too).
Paint "scare eyes"
(circles of yellow, black and red paint) which makes them feel like they are
being watched. I
have whirligigs that are nothing but "scare eyes" that toggle back and forth
in the wind.

The whirligigs will not be pretty, they are not meant to be attractive to
humans, but to make
feeding birds apprehensive, stopping their feeding to be aware of predators.

If they learn to ignore movement it won't long and they will be some other
animals dinner (your
only consulation for those that refuse to move on).

Again, if you only succeed in making 50% of the birds feed elsewhere, you
still have reduced your
bird damage by that much.

Never just put a single scare, in a single location, never changing, always
the same, and expect
it to work. Keep the scares moving and changing if you want to keep the
birds moving too.

Best of luck,
Tom

Sam Franc wrote:

> jack e wigal wrote:
>
> >My problem is the birds which are pecking and ruining many of them. I
> >had one clump of three Bramleys Seedlings and one fell yesterday, so my
> >chances of ripening the other two are slim. I have from ten to twenty of
> >some other varieties, so may get to taste a couple if I can foil the
> >birds. Have also considered a fony owl?
> >
> >Would appreciate any suggestions from some of you more experienced folks.





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