Birds are an issue at our marina. Especially when you've spent 25+ hours detailing your boat. There's a few techniques that people are using around here to keep birds away but the most common is mylar tassels or those plastic triangular flags attached to a line used for grand openings at businesses. What tricks are common in your marina?
How do you keep the birds at bay?
- Thread starter Project_Mayhem
- Start date
I have had some horrible years with the birds. I was always on a mooring and I think that the flying beasts fish and then take their meal to the nearest place to eat. Usually on my sailboat.
I have found (so far) for the past two years that I have been on a dock, that the bird issue is near non-existent. Of course paying for a dock instead of a mooring is a very high expense to eliminate the bird problem. There are devices that emit sound and or lights that the birds don't like, but I have never tried any.
I have found (so far) for the past two years that I have been on a dock, that the bird issue is near non-existent. Of course paying for a dock instead of a mooring is a very high expense to eliminate the bird problem. There are devices that emit sound and or lights that the birds don't like, but I have never tried any.
We use old CD's on the lifelines. If you score the CD's with a box knife, you can crack it and then easily put on the lifelines. Birds hate them!
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 23,336
A shotgun. Just step out. Wave it around and fire it in the air.
oops. Maybe that was for intruders.
never mind.
it did work when I tried to go duck hunting the first time.
oops. Maybe that was for intruders.
never mind.
it did work when I tried to go duck hunting the first time.
I was on a mooring for a number of years where the cormorants made a real mess. I tried many things, the one that worked for me was to tie 4 foot pieces of ribbon every 4 feet on a line the length of the jib luff and raise it up with the jib halyard - the flowing ribbons kept them away.
I've tried everything and nothing really works on the black birds which are seasonal. However, with a good coat of nonskid cleaner/wax, cleaning the mess is easy. I use a "foam cannon" with a boat soap plus about 6oz of bleach and it all just hoses off without the effort of scrubbing with a deck brush!
We made a mooring cover to protect the boat last year. This year, we lucked out and there are two ospreys setting up house keeping! No more birds!
I also am on a mooring . Every few years the coromants and the seagulls would pick my boat . Argh .. I hung an swiveling headed owl from the mast. Worked great. I tried a 4' plastic snake... I forgot to tell my wife about . She was the first one off the dinghy and onto the boat...
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 23,336
This raises a question.
Aren't Osprey Birds... Setting up House...On your boat?
The possibility of Baby Osprey... Baby Osprey that are not potty trained....
Pardon my confusion.... Lucky?
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 23,336
That sounds much better.
We had a sailor named @Kermit here at SBO.
He and an Osprey became unfriendly. The Osprey would bring it's meals to Kermie's boat. Kermie did not want the bird to share it's meals. Osprey was a bit of an unrully eater and decided to leave the feast and a bit more, then flew off.
Reading your text I wondered if this was a case of déjà vu all over again.
We had a sailor named @Kermit here at SBO.
He and an Osprey became unfriendly. The Osprey would bring it's meals to Kermie's boat. Kermie did not want the bird to share it's meals. Osprey was a bit of an unrully eater and decided to leave the feast and a bit more, then flew off.
Reading your text I wondered if this was a case of déjà vu all over again.
Whatever you do… do NOT feel all smug when an osprey lands on another person’s boat. I got all smug when I saw an osprey land on Robert Lang’s boat late one afternoon. I was soooooo happy it wasn’t MY boat. This is what I found the next weekend. People came rushing up to us asking if we had seen our boat.
p.s. The clean square areas are where the solar panels had been.
k
p.s. The clean square areas are where the solar panels had been.
k
As long as it’s on someone else’s boat. I spent more time cleaning it and worry about it than sailing it. I miss sailing but not boat ownership. We may eventually get a bitty little boat that we can leave on a trailer at our family-owned lakehouse. But it’s gonna hafta be *exactly* what we want. And we don’t even know exactly what we want. Or if we even want it.Sailing is more fun!
