Roosting birds

oldoakman

oldoakman

Been here much more than a while
Location
Alorgia
Need some help gentlemen. We have two trees in a downtown area that have become very attractive to a flock of starlings and sparrows. The birds have been roosting in these trees most of the summer creating the obvious mess beneath them which also happens to be very near an outdoor eating area of a restraunt/sandwich shop. The trees are Darlington Oaks that were planted in 2007 as 5-6" caliper trees. At this point I am planning to thin the canopies of both trees. I am open to additional suggestions. Firearms are not an option in this location, however fireworks may be a part of th solution.
 
Owl decoys haven't worked, Tchaikovsky wouldn't bother them since they are nearly on top of a stage used for outdoor concerts on a weekly basis. Thinning, it is hoped, will expose and cool the roost area and also allow for better fireworks penetration to the roost area.
 
I've heard recordings of predator bird calls being played at timed intervals from the roofs of buildings. I've been told it works well. But, the ones I've heard are fairly annoying screeching sounds. You could also install bird spikes like the ones here:

http://www.bettymills.com/shop/prod...EqyVwEl_1f6xN4R6D-hII1HFrSAn1hC5ZIaAiHB8P8HAQ

I've seen them used a lot on structures but never on trees. Seems like you'd have to install lots of them to cover all the top sides of the limbs. You could also encapsulate the canopies of the trees with netting. If the trees are small enough, it could be done. And maybe having the netting installed temporarily would provide lasting prevention? I don't know. Contact a pest control company in your area. they might have other ideas.
 
Any non-lethal deterrent will only work for a short period of time until they realize its not harmful. So either start killing or switch up deterrent methods frequently. Like: Old CD's will work for a bit, loud bangs will work for a bit, predator cues will work for a bit.
Actual predators will work better. Find a way to have Falcons introduced in to the city on the ledge of a tall building or grain elevator. Good publicity, plus seeing a small bird go 'poof!' in mid air is cool!
 
If the the birds are nesting, you could perhaps install pull lines onto the limbs where they're depositing nest materials, so that as the birds place material there, the limbs can be shaken enough to drop the material from the limbs. Eventually the biological imperative of the birds will dictate that they go elsewhere to nest. I have a client who initially asked me to remove a large pine limb over their outdoor pool due to birds nesting directly over it. Rather than inflict a large pruning cut on the tree, I now go back annually a little bit prior to the start of nesting season to reinstall a line on that particular limb, then leave it to the client to keep the birds from accumulating enough material to lay eggs. The birds always wind up rearing their young in another, more agreeable part of the tree.
 
Sam, I'd love to have a pair of perigrine's but the buildings aren't tall enough. There are a few Coopers and Sharpshins that frequent the area but they seem to prefer the pigeons to starlings and sparrows. Can't say I blame them on that point. They only come in to roost overnight so I don't think CD's will have an effect at all. Thanks for the advice though.


Cerviarborist, they are roosting in numbers of between 100 and 300, not nesting. Again, thanks for your input.
 
Pest Control/ Bird Control companies spray some kind of bird deterrent into trees when situations like this arise. Not sure exactly what they spray (although I think its some kind of mixture containing wolf urine) but I have heard it works well, might want to look into that.
 
Mmmmm, wolf urine. "Yes waitress, please tell the chef this brisket has a wonderful aftertaste I'm not familiar with. Is the recipe available?"

All kidding aside, sounds like it could work. Hopefully not noticeable to the patrons though. Probably the easiest of the ideas yet.
 
oldoakman said:
...At this point I am planning to thin the canopies of both trees. I am open to additional suggestions. Firearms are not an option in this location, however fireworks may be a part of th solution.
Click to expand...

Thinning the trees out enough to stop birds from roosting will not be good for the trees. The roosting cycle needs to be broken and that will take some persistence. For small trees, high pressure water, either manually or sensor triggered could flush the birds from their roost with just a short burst. This would be safe and easy to implement. The small inconvenience of getting everything wet should pale compared to the mess large flocks of birds can make.
 
We have a large rope course in our rain forest and we had a lot of turkey voltures and other birds that were making a mess out of our forest so we installed several irrigation system all up in our trees some reaching at 100ft and for the last 4 yrs we are bird free in our rope course , it did take some time , but we got rid of them . Also try Bird be Gone .com Later in SO-CAL
 
TreeLogic said:
Mmmmm, wolf urine. "Yes waitress, please tell the chef this brisket has a wonderful aftertaste I'm not familiar with. Is the recipe available?"

All kidding aside, sounds like it could work. Hopefully not noticeable to the patrons though. Probably the easiest of the ideas yet.
Click to expand...

LOL yeah I thought of that too, but the material is sprayed when the facility is closed and has enough time to dry (usually over night), no special sauce on the brisket that way!
 
Some of the ol' timers would catch a bird, keep it till the rest return, then shake it by the legs so it squawks and screams, that'll keep the flock away for a good while they said..... guess it would be frowned upon now.... the next best was playing a recording of a bird in distress, but it had limited success.
 
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