Comments on: Scaring away a bird?

Question: Scaring away a bird?

mpemulis — Mon, 22 May 2006 12:21:47 -0800

In the past two weeks a bird (let's call him Stan) has developed a weird attachment to the rear view mirrors on our car. (The car is parked outside.) At all hours of the day Stan can be found sitting on the side of one of the mirrors pecking furiously. He seems to prefer one side mirror more than the other but doesn't really care too much. I'd really like to discourage little Stan from his behavior because he might scratch up the mirror and he's pooping all over the doors.

I have no desire to hurt this bird - I just want him to stop. I tried covering the mirrors with paper or foil but he just pecked on them until they fell off.

Stan's a small, generic-looking brown bird. There are a gazillion of them in our neighborhood but (I THINK) it's just one bird behaving this way.

Any suggestions??

By: twiggy

twiggy — Mon, 22 May 2006 12:24:28 -0800

Have you tried double sided tape? This is a technique used to keep cats off of things, but it may just work for birds.

Of course I would caution you that the tape may leave sticky residue on there and be a bitch to clean off, so I'd try a little piece, perhaps on the underside where it can't be seen, and make sure.

By: jasper411

jasper411 — Mon, 22 May 2006 12:25:19 -0800

Previously asked.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Mon, 22 May 2006 12:32:55 -0800

Also, it'll stop soon, once the bird breeds and the family nests. Btw, foil seems like it would still reflect an image; try plastic grocery bags or something.

By: frogan

frogan — Mon, 22 May 2006 12:49:40 -0800

Rubber snake.

By: lucyleaf

lucyleaf — Mon, 22 May 2006 12:53:34 -0800

Seconding the rubber snake. This happened to me in high school, and a rubber snake wrapped around the stem of the rear-view mirror did the trick.

By: FauxScot

FauxScot — Mon, 22 May 2006 12:54:36 -0800

Probably a male cardinal.

photo of same:

www.absolutestockphoto.com/ photo_27589.html

They are aggressive this time of the year and will endlessly attack their reflections in just about anything. They'll quit when / if they find something to do. I don't think the males are involved in raising of the baby birds, but I might be wrong. Try bags over the mirrors and see if he goes away, but he might just move to another reflective surface.

By: cosmicbandito

cosmicbandito — Mon, 22 May 2006 12:55:29 -0800

tube socks. keep a pair on the seat. when you get out, put a sock over the mirror. Birds are dumb and try to interact with their reflection in a mirror

By: mediareport

mediareport — Mon, 22 May 2006 13:13:32 -0800

They'll quit when / if they find something to do.

They'll quit once they breed and their hormones that make them ultra-territorial take a nose-dive. And I doubt it's a male cardinal if it's a brown bird. Also, male cardinals definitely take part in feeding the family.

By: mpemulis

mpemulis — Mon, 22 May 2006 13:53:16 -0800

Thanks for all the responses. I think I'll try the tubesock method first, as it's the easiest.

Although the rubber snake trick has a certain allure to it, I have to admit.

And for for the dup post. I SWEAR I searched.

By: overanxious ducksqueezer

overanxious ducksqueezer — Mon, 22 May 2006 16:00:24 -0800

I've read of people putting a silhouette of a common predator bird in their window or garden to keep away birds.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 22 May 2006 20:37:00 -0800

The birds that caused me problems last month are still around and while they've decreased their shitting on my car, it still hasn't gone to zero. They also created a nest in our roof eaves so the house roof and siding is starting to show bird shit everywhere.