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Joe Pelonio
12-10-2006, 3:54 PM
I love them but birds can sure be a pain at times. In the past we've had starlings in the walls, woodpeckers making holes in the house, and herons eating my pond fish.

The latest is a small bird of unknown variety, all brown about the size of a junko. He spends most of the day flying against the shiny brass kick panel on the bottom of the front door. Not only is it annoying to hear it, but he's leaving a lot of "residue" on the front porch.

When I go out and look he sits in a shrub a few feet away and chirps at me. I've tried chatting to him about it but that hasn't helped. My best guess is that he's in love with his own reflection. Short of removing the brass panels, any suggestions?

Dan Gill
12-10-2006, 4:29 PM
How about a cat?

Jim Becker
12-10-2006, 5:02 PM
Birds love mirrors. He/she is a bird. Remove the mirror. The bird will find something else to obsess over. I had a big, beautiful male turkey that absolutely loved the chrome bumper of the Tundra I used to own. For hours at a time... And our cocketiel, Spike...don't even think about trying to CLEAN his mirrors! They are his. You may not touch them. :)

Frank Chaffee
12-10-2006, 5:39 PM
Birds love mirrors.... Remove the mirror....
True story. How would that kickplate look with a matte finish? Chemically induced patina?

Frank

Joe Pelonio
12-10-2006, 9:46 PM
Ah, thanks guys. I may just cover them with a brushed brass vinyl sheeting that I use for signs, or spray them with krylon flat clear. I'll discuss it with my wife. Maybe even just remove them a while until he forgets about it.

Curt Fuller
12-10-2006, 10:05 PM
A good friend of mine was having a problem with Flickers (woodpeckers) pecking holes in the wood siding on the gables of his house. He told me he was going to nail a bunch of rubber snakes up there to scare them away. I laughed at the idea but he did it and it has worked for two years now. I still chuckle when I pull in his driveway and see those goofy snakes up there. Maybe you could just put a rubber snake by the door.

Frank Chaffee
12-10-2006, 11:07 PM
Maybe even just remove them a while until he forgets about it.
Joe, “he”, won’t “forget” it.
A former companion of mine drove school bus for a couple of years. Through most of the school year (K thru 12), she left on her route at or before early light. A male Cardinal who had laid claim to the driver’s side mirror on her bus would meet her on her return hundreds of yards down our drive, and peck at “his” mirror as she drove back through the woods to our place.

The Cardinal would spend all day jumping from the mirror support to peck at his reflected image on the mirror. When she fired up the bus and departed for her afternoon route, the Cardinal would follow, pecking “his” mirror as it was driving away.

The bus (a propane fueled Bluebird, btw), was absent during the summer months, but soon as it returned for fall session, the Cardinal greeted and claimed it again as “his”.

Birds may not have memories commensurate to elephants, but don’t underestimate them.

Frank

Chris Barton
12-11-2006, 6:16 AM
I have one of these (RWS Diana .177 cal air rifle) and found it solves small animal problems everytime...




http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/airgundepot_1928_3810694

Joe Pelonio
12-11-2006, 8:12 AM
I have one of these (RWS Diana .177 cal air rifle) and found it solves small animal problems everytime...

If I see another woodpecker putting holes in the house I'd consider that idea, seems a bit much though for this little guy pecking at my front door.

Peter Stahl
12-11-2006, 8:46 AM
Maybe one of those fake Owls would work too. Your luck the bird would fall in love with it or it would attrack a horny owl.

Ken Fitzgerald
12-11-2006, 9:20 AM
I had an aunt who lived in southern Indiana. Each summer the hummingbirds swarmed her country home because of the many feeders she put out. She had to cover the side view mirrors on her car with booties. Seems the territorial males would attack that "other male hummingbird" it saw in the side view mirrors. She got tired of replacing the mirrors.

Jim Becker
12-11-2006, 9:36 AM
I have one of these (RWS Diana .177 cal air rifle) and found it solves small animal problems everytime...


'Cept it doesn't really do much for the beatiful bird that eats pests around our homes and makes our lives enriched...

Jerry Olexa
12-11-2006, 10:29 AM
We ,for a couple years, had woodpeckers digging into our cedar siding and making big holes. As soon as I would repair them and paint, they'd makes new holes. A few yrs ago, we bought a large plastic OWL and hung it on a wire at the apex in that areaon the side of the house. The trouble improved by 90 % and the last 2 years we have NO holes. Local forestry people suggested that...HTH It worked!!!

Lee Schierer
12-11-2006, 12:31 PM
All last summer we had a male cardinal attacking his reflection in our front bay window. He would attack dozens of times during the day and stay at it for 5-10 minutes at a time. When nesting season ended so did his attacks. If he comes back next year, I'll try the rubber snake idea.

Try just some car wax on the plate. Just put it on don't buff so that it hazes over. Once he loses interest you can buff off the wax and have a clean plate too!

Jerry Olexa
12-11-2006, 3:06 PM
All last summer we had a male cardinal attacking his reflection in our front bay window. He would attack dozens of times during the day and stay at it for 5-10 minutes at a time. When nesting season ended so did his attacks. If he comes back next year, I'll try the rubber snake idea.

Try just some car wax on the plate. Just put it on don't buff so that it hazes over. Once he loses interest you can buff off the wax and have a clean plate too!

Lee, had a similiar event here, Cardinal kept attacking the baywindow in back near an evergreen. we love Cardinals and they are hard to attract. I did make an X in window w masking tape and it eventually stopped. Hope I didn't drive that Cardinal family away. we still have one family in our backyard...