[Kandy]

I need the input of some long-term residents of the island. Here at the condos where I live we have been over-run with pigeons. They are nesting and have now had babies on the balconies where the exterior A/C units are located. Those areas are disgusting as you can imagine, but this is also going to possibly cause damage to the units. Most recently, their feathers are gathering in the pool and they are coming to the ledge to drink water and jump in for a bath. Yesterday, we splashed one repeatedly as we walked toward it and it just kept drinking until we were about 2 feet away!

My thought was to spread moth balls on each ledge. I also had some luck in Texas with spraying Raid to get rid of a barn swallow that kept nesting on my porch. Any and all suggestions are welcome at this point! Thanks.

[GringaErin]

You need some spikes on all of the ledges to prevent them from landing/nesting. I had a similar problem (on a smaller scale probably) when I lived in San Francisco. You may be able to "engineer" something yourself if you can't find the actual bird spikes here... I'm thinking strips of barbed wire or broken glass. Although, I have seen the spikes on a couple of buildings here. I also found this website http://www.bird-x.com/ I must say, the coyote is my favorite Good luck!

[Carey]

We had problem with the big blackbird/grackles landing on the edge of our 3 foot deep lily and fish pond. We stocked the pool with water lilies, gold fish and snails. The birds were landing on the edge, grabbing the baby snails from the inside of the top edge, pulling them out of the shell and eating them.

They were also taking to territorializing sp?? as in when I come out in the morning they'd start screaming at me to get out of their space.

So we got some fine gill netting and tried first tying that overhead. Didn't work. Then AJ had the idea to cut strips to just fit the top of the pool where they were landing. We cut it, laid it along the perimeter and held it down with pieces of tile. The grackles wouldn't land on the edge after that. We think because they feared getting their claws caught in it.

Something to think about. Our netting was bird netting actually brought down from the states. Brown so visible. But AJ thinks any fine gill netting would probably work unless pigeons are a lot stupider than grackle/blackbirds. Always a possibility. Having had two pidgen sh*t on my head during my lifetime, I'm not a fan.

[DebB]

The only long-term solution re the AC balconies that I can think of would be exclusion -- using nylon netting, though I don't know how available it is here, or one of the steel meshes. You can paint the steel mesh black so it won't be as visible, but the paint will flake off in your environment.

As for the pool, we had the same problem at the shallow ends of our pool at Las Ventanas. Our pool is shallow with steps at the two ends and deeper in the center. The only thing that has worked are "noodles" -- the foam pool thingies. Stainless screw eyes were installed in the pool and several noodles were tied together to fill the width of the pool. The whole mess is tied to the screws so it stays in place. The tying is not super tight so that the noodles can spin and bounce when waves hit or weight is put on them. When the birds step on this, they don't have sure footing so they no longer bathe there. However, when the water level gets too high -- say after heavy rains -- the birds are able to stand on the pool deck and drink from the deeper part the pool. They don't seem interested in bathing in deep water, which is good!

[Coz2wonder]

found a site with some suggestions on discouraging the pigeons from landing.
"http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Pigeons

Do you have any old CD's...that seemed to be one solution to hang from the balcony.

You might want to consider getting one of those high powered squirt guns.

Of course, if you over shoot the bird, and nail your neighbors not sure how they would feel being collateral damage.

Or, you could get a coyote.

[cookielady]

Our friends had the same problem with geese landing on their dock. They bought some of those small shiny pinwheels that you use for decorations or young kids play with and that completely solved their problem. Not sure if you can find them on the island:)

[Kandy]

All good ideas. Thanks everyone!

[MarkC]

Wow you guys are too nice - spread bid seed laced with RAT POISON on the ledges... problem solved

[mexcelia]

I'd had a koi pond back in the states and lost a lot of fish to predators until I got a pond "scarecrow" with an electric beam. Anytime something crosses that beam the scarecrow squirts water, fast and hard. Took care of the problem. Might be something that someone can bring down for you since I doubt (but don't know for sure) if that could be found down here............good luck

[MarkC]

do they have a 3000# pressure washer model?

[Carey]

mexcelia, on 20 August 2012 - 12:21 PM, said:

I'd had a koi pond back in the states and lost a lot of fish to predators until I got a pond "scarecrow" with an electric beam. Anytime something crosses that beam the scarecrow squirts water, fast and hard. Took care of the problem. Might be something that someone can bring down for you since I doubt (but don't know for sure) if that could be found down here............good luck

What type of birds did you have? I have a feeling the grackle/black birds we're dealing with may be way smarter than some I've seen. Not sure if that would fool them.

[Jim912]

We had a problem with pigeons as well. At first I used my pellet rifle to take care of the problem. Worked great as long as we were on the island. As soon as we would leave they would come back and nest on top of the air conditioners and under a concrete ledge that covered the AC units. Finally I got a roll of chicken wire and put around the units and used zip ties to secure everything. No problems since. We did have to to pull each of the AC units and wash them. That was a real mess.

[mexcelia]

Herons actually, Ohio is now home to a multitude of herons, along with other predatory birds who remain in the area longer due to the massive increase in the popularity of decorative ponds, it was quite a story just a couple years back.............and the "scarecrow" doesn't scare them, there is an invisible electric beam that you'd aim a particular direction and when something, anything, crosses that beam the "scarecrow" spits water.......(they aren't necessarily designed to look like scarecrows btw, can be statues of animals, fake plants etc.)you know, here's a link that will explain way better than I could, it's just a nice alternative that won't hurt them.......... http://www.ehow.com/...-predators.html


p.s. they have a variety of ideas on that page to help deter.......some for ponds, some for the unwanted that can be used in your circumstance