I don’t know about you, but I have a real bird control problem in my garden. But I wouldn’t want to take any advice from these movies:
The Hitchcock film “The Birds” shows us how not to do bird control.
The message learnt is to not buy lovebirds as pets, as their very presence will incite all other birds to viciously attack humans – if we are to believe the film, which, of course, we don’t. We certainly do not want to be outnumbered by birds – think of all the bird mess and potential spread of disease…..
Next, we move on to the children’s classic film “Mary Poppins” (one of my favourites) and the song called “Feed the birds”. However lovely this song may be, it encourages people to feed birds – this is an absolute no-no! This will be completely counteractive to any bird control measures.
Always, always clear away food leftovers when eating outdoors into bins.
Never leave your scraps in the open, unless you want an entire kit of pigeons (did you know that a “kit” is the collective noun for a group of these birds?), to descend on you en masse.
Then there is the animated film “Valiant” featuring WWII homing pigeons. The main character, Valiant, befriends a flea-ridden London pigeon.
Again, you certainly would not want to encourage the close presence of pigeons, especially flea-ridden ones – this would not help your bird control cause. You should keep pigeons far away and be particularly weary of those that look ‘dodgy’. If they are flea-ridden, you certainly want to discourage them from coming near your home or pet, otherwise you will have a flea problem too!
There are many other movies that pest control would have ruined – given the opportunity of course! So instead of the movies, I would turn to a professional pest control company for practical and effective advice on bird control. Here are some basics:
- Bird points: My husband installed pigeon spikes (or more correctly a bird point deterrent system) on the side of our garden fence where we built our pergola with a seating area underneath. This certainly does help to deter pigeons and minimise bird droppings on our lovely patio… though sadly our efforts are overshadowed by our neighbours, who regularly feed birds. Not just with a bird feeder, but by throwing larger crumbs on the lawn – that is what encourages the pigeons and also rats. Arrrrgh!
- Bird netting: this can be used to deter all species of birds. This bird netting is available in all sizes and can be used on any part of a building to prevent bird nesting. You can see these in-situ at many train stations around the country.
- Scarecrows: Ever heard of a flash scarecrow? This spins in the slightest breeze to peacefully scare birds away. Probably more suitable for large field and not your average garden.
- Birds of prey: Birds of prey have a genuine, proven success in bird control measures. We are lucky enough to regularly see Red Kites flying in the sky above our home …. I wonder if they are good for bird control too?
The list goes on…
In Snow White and Enchanted: Pigeons working on the curtains for them. Maybe we should have rating PG13 for the movies so the younger generation will not be misled. Need to explain in reality there will be droppings, smell, feathers and nothing-like-those-beautiful-chirping-sound we hear in the movies.
In Face Off, Red Cliff (if not all John Woo’s movies; all genres) white pigeons will be seen. His trademark.
I like animals but not to the extent of having them in and around my house. I believe it can be quite hellish to have this problem at home.
The Birds remains my all time most terrifying film and I think contributes to my absolute horror when birds fly in through open doors and get trapped in the house.
On the other hand, I LOVE birds in my garden and used to feed the birds but this led to rats …… !!
pigeon spikes is a common method used in bird control method. It can be prevented pigeons from nesting on the roof, ledge or any other habitation area.
Well Bird spikes are designed to keep pest pigeons and larger birds off of building ledges, signs, parapet walls and other flat surfaces that pest birds like to roost and nest on.
Great post, bird spikes seem to be the logical approach.