OT: - How do you keep doves off your deck? | The Boneyard

OT: How do you keep doves off your deck?

87Xfer

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So I've got a Russian dove (or doves) that has suddenly decided that my deck railing outside my kitchen and dining room is his favorite place to hang out. And crap. Dove crap is pretty substantial, and disgusting. Think goose poop, I've been shooing them away every time I see them, but it / they are still managing to dump on my railing at least a couple times a day.

Is there a humane way to keep these things away from my deck without drastic measures like installing those bird spikes? I've seen ultrasonic bird repellers, but the spot in question is only about 50ft from my neighbors' bird feeders, so that would be sort of a dick move. Anyone else had a similar problem?
 

Rico444

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My high school had a fake owl or hawk(? Some kind of bird of prey) on a spike at the top of our press box to keep seagulls off the field. Maybe that will work?
 

formerlurker

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My high school had a fake owl or hawk(? Some kind of bird of prey) on a spike at the top of our press box to keep seagulls off the field. Maybe that will work?

I was just about to say buy a fake owl. It worked for me when I had a similar problem.
 

87Xfer

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My high school had a fake owl or hawk(? Some kind of bird of prey) on a spike at the top of our press box to keep seagulls off the field. Maybe that will work?
I'm thinking about that, but not sure how that would look given the neighbor birdhouse location. I'll have to do some more research on the fake owl things.
 
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My high school had a fake owl or hawk(? Some kind of bird of prey) on a spike at the top of our press box to keep seagulls off the field. Maybe that will work?
I think they used to work. Not anymore. I have birds nesting right next to my owl every year on our front entry rafters in Vermont. Last summer we had like 4 nests within 6 feet of the owl. What a mess when I arrived for vacation.
 

formerlurker

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I think they used to work. Not anymore. I have birds nesting right next to my owl every year on our front entry rafters in Vermont. Last summer we had like 4 nests within 6 feet of the owl. What a mess when I arrived for vacation.

You might be right, this article doesn't give a glowing review of them. I may have just gotten lucky, plus I have plenty of real birds of prey roaming around so that may have solved my problem too.

 

formerlurker

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Whoah, whoah, whoah... let's talk about this for a second.
tenor.gif
 

87Xfer

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Motion activated spray guns or get the meanest cat they have at the local animal shelter.............
hmm, the motion activated sprayer is interesting.
 
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Try getting some 1 X 1's or something similar, and attaching them to your posts so that they stick up six inches over the top of the post. Then run some string or fishing line parallel to the top rail about four to six inches above it. You can attach some strips of cloth or shiny type ribbons that will blow around. (might not be necessary). I've seen people do the string thing along the peak of roofs to keep seagulls off, and my rowing club uses a similar removable arrangement to keep ducks and geese of the dock.
 

Dove

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Two options:

1. Move
or
2.

1619193969425.png
 
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We hired this coyote to get rid of a roadrunner problem we had. Turned into a total disaster.
wile e. coyote fall GIF by Looney Tunes
 

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