Top 3 Bird Control Devices for Car and RV Sellers

If you own or manager a car or RV sales lot, you need to keep your overhead to an absolute minimum. One big expense is keeping your cars clean—and that means no bird droppings on roofs, windows and doors. Besides being unsightly, bird droppings can damage your cars or RVs—clogging up AC vents and awning controls, and jamming up doors and windows. Your maintenance crew can be working day and night to keep your RVs clean and safe from bird damage. Washing off bird droppings takes time. And repairing bird damaged cars or RVs costs you money. These are expenses you don’t need right now.

The solution is to implement some effective bird controls, proven bird deterrents that will keep your maintenance staff working on other much-needed projects and jobs. Here are three bird control devices the experts recommend:

1. Bird Scare Visual Deterrents

You may already have banners and balloons tethered to your RVs. But adding professionally designed Visual Scare Bird Deterrents will keep pest birds away. Choose Flash Tape and Reflective Banners, which are specially designed to snap in the breeze and reflect sunlight to intimidate birds. Or get Scare Eye Diverters and Bird Scare Balloons, which feature large mock eyes to convince birds a huge predator is eyeing them for their next meal. All are easy to hang just about anywhere, and they can be moved around wherever pest birds have become a problem.

2. Bird Chase Super Sonic

Designed for deterring pest birds from large outdoor areas like car lots, the Bird Chase Super Sonic System covers a full acre with intimidating sounds birds hate to hear. Additional portable speakers are easily added to extend the effective range to a full five acres. Unlike ultrasonic systems that send out signals birds can’t hear, the Bird Chase Super Sonic broadcasts predator and distress calls within the hearing range of birds. The sounds resemble normal bird calls so they won’t annoy your customers. You can program the system to turn off at night and on in the morning when birds become most active. The Bird Chase Super Sonic emits distress and predator calls for 22 types of birds, so your car lot is protected against virtually any type of bird.

3. Red-Tail Hawk Decoys

Pest birds are keenly aware of their natural predators. Some birds will actually post “lookouts” to warn their flock of imminent danger. Red Tail Hawk Decoys exploit this fear, which is why they are so effective in deterring pest birds. Hawks hunt during the day when most pest birds are active, so hawk decoys are better than owl decoys. These decoys work best when they’re realistic looking and moved about frequently. Birds are clever little critters and won’t be fooled by poorly made imitations or those left in once place for too long. Your decoy should also be well made (heavy duty plastic) to last for years in sun and rain.

Effective Bird Control for Waterfront Homes

by Alex A. Kecskes

If you’re fortunate enough to live in a waterfront home, you’ve no doubt had to deal with gulls, cormorants or pelicans on your property. Without effective bird control measures to deter them, these birds can create a number of costly problems. Not the least of which is the build-up of bird droppings everywhere.

Gull droppings on your roof, for example, are so acidic they can permanently damage roofing tiles. Cormorants like to build nests in lofty places, like chimneys, which can be dangerous to both bird and resident. Sometimes, gulls will bring muscles on your deck or rooftop and break them apart before eating. This can create a smelly mess, damage your roof and mar your deck.

Seaside pest birds can wreak havoc with your outdoor furniture. Canvas awnings and umbrellas can become so covered with droppings that they will degrade the material to the point of tearing. Droppings on the sides of your home, deck or boathouse can require expensive removal and re-painting.

So what can you do to protect your home from pest birds? Install some effective, humane bird deterrents. Here are few of the most popular for seaside homes:

Marine Grade Bird Spikes

These won’t allow birds to land or perch. The best bird spikes are made of flexible, marine-grade stainless steel and feature a U.V.-protected polycarbonate base. The spikes are easy to install on rooftops, decks, light posts or other lofty areas birds often choose to land. The spikes come in 3-, 5- and 8-inch widths to cover areas up to 8 inches wide. For larger birds—like cormorants—you’ll need the Mega Spike, which protects landing areas with 7-inch long spikes. To keep pest birds out of your rain gutters, Gutter Spikes feature adjustable clamps at the base. Bird spikes are blunted at the tips and are approved safe by the U.S. Humane Society and PICAS (Pigeon Control Advisory Service).

Visual Bird Deterrents

Often called Bird Scare Deterrents, these include Flash Tape and Reflective Banners than can be easily hung on decks, patio covers, and landing areas. They “spook” birds by crackling in the breeze and reflecting sunlight. Working on the same principle are Scare Eye Diverters, which sway and bob in the breeze. These teardrop shaped plastic panels feature large predator eyes to frighten birds. Finally, there are the Bird Scare Balloons, which also feature large predator eyes to keep pest birds thinking twice about landing. These visual bird deterrents can be effective, but you must move them around from time to time to convince birds they are a real threat.

Sonic Bird Control

These devices emit bird distress and predator calls that resemble normal bird sounds to humans. They make birds far too uncomfortable to stay. One popular sonic bird control unit can emit distress and predator calls for 22 different species of birds. Its built-in speaker covers up to one acre. The unit can be programmed to turn on or off at night, and you can even adjust the volume.