Starling poo - the purple stuff - I have a plan

[tomframe]

one of the guys in our office had a brain wave, we have had a particularly bad year with the starlings this year. MDL came up with their best attempt yet at stopping the little [--word removed--] - they have got hold of a megaphone with distress sounds of various birds - Now I must say when they play the sounds the birds do leave quickly, the problem is so does the guy with the megaphone, and then they return.
After watching this for a few weeks one of the guys in the office did a quick search on the Internet and found a link to a mp3 of distressed starlings, the same as the £700 megaphone. So my cunning plan is to loop it and play it via a laptop every 15mins during their nesting time thought the deck speakers - I suspect a few residents might not be happy, but I will let you know how it goes.

here is the link if you want to try - http://www.springfieldmogov.org/health/audio/StarlingDistressCall.mp3.

 

[Searush]

Purple bird poo is an Autumn thing - due to the blackberry season (no, not the mobile phone that thinks it's a PC).

 

[matelot]

airgun. cat. shiny cd discs on a string, fake owl, poison

starlings are vermin so you are allowed to kill them - or at least you were. the fluffy bunny brigade might have altered that if you're worried about such issues.

 

[Searush]

Add toy snakes to that list of bird scarers. My Sammy has also been known to startle unsuspecting visitors.

 

[TonyS]

I have thought of a similar strategy. But I have the sounds recorded on a voice recorder circuit (£5) - similar to the ones in a birthday card. I have an amplifier (£10) driving a reasonable speaker and want to put the thing in a box and hoist it to the top of the mast. Preferably it would also have a solar cell to drive it so no wires or batteries. Have just not finished it although it all works as a lash up. I would like a timer circuit to give a blast of 5 secs every 2 - 5 mins but am still trying to work out a circuit. So if anyone has similar ideas and better electronic skills, please let me know. I am sure one could sell such a gadget to boatowners?

 

[MarkJohnson12345]

Just a thought,

If you frighten them away, might that cause them increase their droppings (v polite).

Do they just used to these regular and predictable calls?

Mj

 

[Lakesailor]

That would be fab and a much more welcome noise than halyards frapping all the time. The neighbours will queue up to thank you. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Amulet]

This stuff works:

http://www.croptect.com/wa/2/35/779-Humming-line

I was plagued by bird droppings on my previous mooring.
Huge improvement resulted from stringing humming-line around the boat. It's a bit like gift band.

 

[dulcibella]

If it is in the ultrasonic range, will it drive local bats batty and make all the neighbouring dogs bark? Wouldn't matter in its primary agricultural use as most agri land is a wildlife desert anyway, but nice inshore anchorages have lots of bats.

 

[Searush]

[ QUOTE ]
If it is in the ultrasonic range, will it drive local bats batty and make all the neighbouring dogs bark? Wouldn't matter in its primary agricultural use as most agri land is a wildlife desert anyway, but nice inshore anchorages have lots of bats.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agri land = wildlife desert!!!! You must be joking! We have foxes, badgers, squirrels, moles, rats, mice, hares & rabbits around us, plus the sheep, cows, dogs & cats on the farms and that's just the larger mammals. I could do you a bird list, but it would take a page of A4, the insects would fill a book.
/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gifMaybe you only look in fields as you drive past.