What do you do to fend off the birds?

markpierce said:

While looking at a redtail hawk at the live wildlife museum Wednesday, the thought crossed my mind to have one stationed on my boat to scare/chase away birds. Then realized the hawk would poop too.

Click to expand...

You train them to go three boats down. But only after that boat's owner swabbed the deck real good like.



Good bird. :lol:

For a while plastic owls sold like hell in my shop, then they stopped selling. Next it was Gull Sweeps, they stopped selling.

As for snakes, two words, snake poop.

A buddy of mine takes great pleasure in shooting gulls with paint balls. He even hits them in the air. Not sure it keeps them away but he enjoys it.

The blow boat guys have the problem of birds landing on their spreaders. They run a piece of monofiliament from the shroud to the mast a few inches above the spreader. That trick seems to work. Not sure how you could apply that technique to a large area like Duvie is trying to protect.

One time, working with what we had on board, cardboard, red table napkins and masking tape,we made a sort of hawk and suspended it on a light line where the cute pretty but ever crapping little swallows were roosting. It worked a treat keeping them away. But seagulls? Never tried it on them.

Gotta remind myself to clean off several bird poops at the base of the Coot's mast. Fortunately, most birds favor the higher masts of neighboring sailboats, but there are a couple of motorboats where birds favor roosting on the radar domes.

Mark, you are absolutely right - "Then realized the hawk would poop too."

Only use plastic owls, not real ones. I once had a very accomodating FBO keep my plane for free in a big WW2 hanger for a few days. The resident owl pooped on it and it took me hours to clean it off. Owl poop is mouse-hair reinforced and very durable! Much worse than seagull!

I discovered in my singlehander sailing days that soap attracts birds. After a 14 day passage no birds would come near me until they could smell soap.

Choose plastic instead of paper at the store, use the built in handle to pull the bottom of the bag through around the rails, wind makes them flutter = no birds

Dangling cd's on monofiliment, movement and the birds are gone.

Now figure out how to make it look good to your neighbors.

DaveFL said:

Dangling cd's on monofiliment, movement and the birds are gone.

Click to expand...

Is the a preference in music that works better? BWAHAHAHAHA :-D

iPad Forum Runner

Hendo78 said:

Is the a preference in music that works better? BWAHAHAHAHA :-D

iPad Forum Runner

Click to expand...

Bye, Bye Blackbird.

Steve W

Steve said:

Bye, Bye Blackbird.

Steve W

Click to expand...

Lol

iPad Forum Runner

Nightcap said:

I discovered in my singlehander sailing days that soap attracts birds. After a 14 day passage no birds would come near me until they could smell soap.

Click to expand...

Either that, or you have fastidious seagulls repelled by body odor.

What about vertical screens?

I was thinking that I never see birds in boat cockpit areas. I am assuming it is because the birds do not have good 360 degree visability in that type of area. I am wondering if a 18 inch high screen around the perimeter of any flat surface would keep the birds away from those spaces? Wondering if I put fabric screens on the forward railings if that would keep the birds off those forward areas? Has anyone else noted that birds do not seem to hang out in areas with limited visiblity?

Duvie, interesting idea. You could try it by cutting up a cheap blue tarp before you invest in nice Sunbrella screens.

plastic owl

venture said:

Get great big plastic owl... all the boats have them here in the uk.... seems to work!

Click to expand...

We have a plastic owl and it worked to keep the hawks away but it invites the gulls to a party.
Worked 4 hours one day to get the major guano of the boat and now ready for another several hours. The bimini is covered and we don't know how to get it off since the bimini is over the fly bridge and too high to reach even with a long handled brush.
My husband is going to try oxalic acid today. We have the suggestion that we try On/Off but to be very, very careful to wash it off quickly on anything that it touches. We also have the suggest to try mylar streamers that people use in their gardens to keep birds away. In my desperation I bought several child's windmills and duct taped them to the boat. My husband it going to the boat today (it is over an hour away in Rockland Harbor. I will let you know what happens today.
TT

A grocery store bag that makes crinkle noise hung from an antenna. Cheap easy and kind of ugly. Works for a few months for seagulls. Not so much with Osperys

Marin said:

A quick look on the internet uncovered a device called the GullSweep, which is what I believe the device I described was. Gullsweep, the finest bird deterrent for boats

Don't know if this is similar to the Gull Wing you mentioned.

The boat in our marina is a 38' Bayliner and the flying bridge enclosure looks more or less like yours. The sweep extended out beyond the sides of the enclosure top but not the ends.

Click to expand...

One of the owners on my pier has one of those on his bow. It's the only boat that doesnt have bird sh,,,, on it.