Owl Statue

[guppiecat]

The presence of an owl frightens birds, so owl statues like this are used to keep birds away from places they could harm themselves, damage property, or just make a mess.

Originally posted at stories.starmind.org.

Comments

[pameladean]

Bluejays don't get scared. They just get even.

P.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Blue jays.

Such wise asses.

[carbonel]

I see it works about as well as the hawk silhouette that I taped to my back-of-the-house sliding glass doors in a futile attempt to keep a female cardinal from repeatedly attempting to bash her brains out by flying into the window.

(Either she didn't make it through last winter or she finally gave it up as a bad job, since I haven't seen her in rather a while.)

[guppiecat]

Yeah, experts say that hawk silhouettes don't work. They also say that owls don't work for birds that live in the area (hence, the blue jay), as they get used to the fact that it doesn't move, so it's not "real". In this case, the owl is used to drive migratory birds, so it's actually effective.

Should you have the cardinal issue again, look into one of these options: http://www.birdwatchingdaily.com/featured-stories/15-products-that-prevent-windows-strikes/

The UV products near the bottom are supposed to be quite good, but I've not tested them yet. I've heard that 3M is coming out with a UV film product that should be even better, but I can't seem to find it right now.