Bird Bombs…ideas for scaring birds from trees

Joined
Jun 17, 2013
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556
Location
Texas
Thinking of picking up a Class A pressurized water extinguisher to scare off birds from the 50 year old live oak that shades my driveway. Generally I scare them off at night when they’re roosting as to condition them to avoid my tree. I have one of those push type super soakers that kids use in pools. It works well enough but sometimes can’t get to the birds that are higher up, think more than 20-25 feet.

Green lasers apparently work but I haven’t been able to find a reasonably priced example and I’m not convinced the white-winged doves that are the issue will be threatened by a green laser. Seems that a Class A extinguisher is generally cheaper and I know for certain that a squirt of water works.

I live in a neighborhood so a BB/pellet gun really isn’t an option and I’m also not trying to wound the birds. Same with loud noises being that I’m scaring them off at night.

Aside from the extinguisher, can y’all think of any other good options that will reach 30 feet or more? Anyone with experience using green lasers on birds?
 
Using a mesh net is one ive seen come up, I know that using realistic owl and hawk decoys work well as most birds avoid them.
 
Using a mesh net is one ive seen come up, I know that using realistic owl and hawk decoys work well as most birds avoid them.
Might be a good idea to get a hawk and move it around sporadically so they don’t grow accustomed to it. I’d also spray them with water. Just really want to condition them in to avoiding the tree entirely.
 
You won't win with this one. Scare them away and the birds will come back. A rubber owl or hawk won't phase them. My dumb neighbor has them, the squirrels and birds know they are fakes. A net or mesh on a 50 year old oak is unrealistic.Your only solutions, cut the tree down, park elsewhere or wait.. The birds probably are looking for some nooky. Once their glands settle down, they probably will disappear.
 
An uncle of mine in Virginia had the same problem in a large tree in his yard. He had me pick up bottle rockets for him every time that I came to visit. At dusk when they flew in to roost, he would launch a few to scare them off. Since it was just getting dark at the time, the neighbors never complained about the 4 or 5 bangs when they detonated. Worked like a charm.
 
Has a turkey vulture problem in my old neighborhood. Roosting at night in a few large trees. Resting on rooftops during the day. Their droppings are acidic and stain everything. Had to get the USDA involved. They legally harvested a few of them and hung them by their feet with wings spread from the highest trees effigy style. Vultures never returned in the six years I lived there afterwards. Crazy but true.
 
I have a huge white oak in my front yard and have the same issue. I end up washing my cars a couple times a week, especially in the winter when there are no leaves. Nothing I've tried seems to work, fake owl, cds on a string etc. Once the leaves come out they seem to catch a lot of it.
 
Has a turkey vulture problem in my old neighborhood. Roosting at night in a few large trees. Resting on rooftops during the day. Their droppings are acidic and stain everything. Had to get the USDA involved. They legally harvested a few of them and hung them by their feet with wings spread from the highest trees effigy style. Vultures never returned in the six years I lived there afterwards. Crazy but true.
We call them buzzards in Texas. They are smarter than your average bird, are very destructive, and just plain nasty. Between their poop and regurgitation they make a hell of a mess. A shotgun will get rid of them, eventually. The noise will scare them off, but you have to kill one occasionally for them to get the message that they are not welcome, and they do eventually get the message. I know that it is illegal to kill them (they are supposed to be endangered, but you wouldn't know it by their large numbers around here), but there really isn't any other way to get rid of them.
An even bigger problem here is Grackles. They will roost in a tree by the THOUSANDS. You don't want to get under the tree that they are in because it is literally raining poop. The city actually uses shotguns with blanks to scare them off.
 
My ex Father-in-law made a 12 ga shotgun shell with a cap nipple in the back like for black powder. I would put black powder and cotton ball and rock salt and cotton ball in it and load it in my single shot 12 ga shotgun. Might have to use it several times to get the grackles to move on.
 
A car cover is not the point. Who’s gonna throw on a car cover on every time you come home and remove it every time you go out? Try seeing half a dozen of these B52’s perched on your new roof or chimney cap with white acidic droppings rolling down your new shingles. Forget about shooting them. Check out the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. $100 thousand dollar fine and a year in prison. Crazy.
 
Non-lethal to birds....too bad these have limited range.

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Feral cats work well but present their own problems.
 
$1 fake rubberish-plastic snakes from Walmart. They look real enough. I use them to keep rodents and birds away from important stuff. Works well. I had a pesky woodpecker on my house eves daily until I put a few fake snakes up. Problem sovled.

Buy 50 of them and staple or secure them to various parts of the tree. Problem solved. In the toy aisle.
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys. There’s four cars in the family and a two car garage. Street parking isn’t an option because it’s on a cul-de-sac.

Squirting the water at them generally works really well and keeps them from returning after a few days. I’m going to pick up one of those pressurized water extinguishers to see how far they’ll shoot. During the day, my pressure washer works great but it makes too much noise at night.
 
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