The Curse of the Birds!

[Smokin Don]

Jan 12 2014

I thought some may find this humorous; I am not sure I do but if you get a laugh fine! 

The birds seem to think my smoking deck is a poop deck!

It is probably a self-induced curse. I have fed the birds for most of the 40 years I have lived in my home.
I settled in to just feeding a one pound coffee can of black oil sunflower seeds daily. It attracted mostly desirable birds to watch and photograph. The seed was fairly cheap back when I started.

One day while setting in my work shop to photograph birds in a lilac bush, through the window I counted 23 different species of birds in an hour.

I started putting out sugar for the summer hummingbirds about 25 years ago and get a lot of enjoyment from them. I also started to put out finch seed for Gold finches and in the winter I have a heated bird bath for the birds.

About four years ago I upgraded my outdoor cooking equipment with a Traeger 07E pellet smoker. I cooked on it some the first winter. Wanting to use it more in the winter I built a small covered deck. It was great the first winter; I was able to close in three sides for winter cooking.

Then the birds found it was a great place to roost at night and noted bird poop here and there. I bought a plastic owl and hung it in the corner.  It took the birds about a month to see the owl never moved and returned to roost.

I thought “You dirty birds; a fine way to pay me back after feeding you. I probably fed some of your g-grandparents!”   So go ahead and have a laugh! Me; I am slowly going from a happy bird watcher to an angry bird chaser!      Smokin Don

[TwoPockets]

I feel your pain. We live in a 3 story townhouse and our deck is on the second level just off the living room and next to the eat in kitchen. Since Lana had her stroke she spends her computer time at the kitchen table which has a bay window looking out toward the deck, I keep it filled black oil sunflower seeds and she can look at out the window watch the birds feed. Lot's of pretty birds and it is very interesting but my car sits parked under it and it constantly covered with seed husks and bird poop. But she likes it so what is a car wash once a week

[mikecorn.1]

Lol!


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[Saber 4]

Try hanging cheesecloth bags with mothballs in the eaves it keeps mud dobbers, spiders and birds from nesting, If it works for you make sure to change them out every couple months as they dissolve over time.

[Smokin Don]

Try hanging cheesecloth bags with mothballs in the eaves it keeps mud dobbers, spiders and birds from nesting, If it works for you make sure to change them out every couple months as they dissolve over time.

Thanks much for the idea, I'll try it. They make a bird repellant paint but it's $100 a gallon! Don

[sliding_billy]

I'm still waiting for the 1st bird to crawl into my smoker and me not notice him until after he becomes roasted bird.

[muebe]

Time to get one of those fake Owls Don

[africanmeat]

Don, look at the bright side , be happy that cows don't fly.

[pmillen]

We fed birds on our deck just outside of the eating nook for years.  Marcia and the grandchildren loved watching them.  Me?  Feh. 

Cardinals are ground feeders so their feeder was a screen-bottom tray of safflower seed.  The cardinals and doves were good neighbors but the d*mn starlings threw seeds out.  My solution was to put the tray in a shallow plastic kiddie's swimming pool to catch the thrown seeds.

Then the ample food supply created a mouse overpopulation.  Then the bird feeding equipment went to the landfill.  Marcia and the grandchildren are disappointed.  Me?  Feh.

[CDN Smoker]

I'm a guy that owns a pellet gun and is not afraid to use it

[hikerman]

Don at garden supply stores they sell this reflective, metallic, tape that is two colors. When the wind hits it or the Sun hits it, it startles the birds, deer, and vermin. Works good.

www.bird-x.com/irri-tape-products-52.php?page_id=61

Amazon sells it in 25' lengths.

[muebe]

Don at garden supply stores they sell this reflective, metallic, tape that is two colors. When the wind hits it or the Sun hits it, it startles the birds, deer, and vermin. Works good.

www.bird-x.com/irri-tape-products-52.php?page_id=61

Amazon sells it in 25' lengths.

Hanging CD's by fishing line also works similar. If you have some old CD's your not listening to they will work.

[pz]

I feel for you Don, we feel like prisoners in our own back yard: 

• Deer: will eat everything we have planted except foxglove (including deer resistant)
• Turkeys: run in packs of 8-12 or more leaving huge droppings all over the deck, patio, driveway, basically everywhere except inside the house.  We put up an 8-foot deer fence this year because we figured they're usually too lazy to fly - the other day we saw them make a short flight to the roof, and then into the fenced back yard
• Bears: like to tear up bird feeders.  They also ruined a dwarf plum tree - tore it down to eat the fruit
• Moose: grab the branches of one of our ornamental plum trees at the base, and then strip everything off to the tip of the branch, much like you would strip thyme leaves off the stem
• Skunks: a family of four somehow crept up the wall space into our attic above the bedroom - they made it their home and we had to move out of the bedroom
• Racoons: killed all our chickens just for sport.  I got that one though - one night I heard commotion at the chicken house - went up there and took him out with an S/W 29 - did blow a hold in the roof though
• Porcupines: wreak havoc on every dog we have ever owned (of course, the dogs learn quickly)
• Gophers: make it so our garden looks like a Bugs Bunny cartoon with the plants shaking as they eat at the root system

Lots of pesky problems (carpenter ants, yellow jackets, white-faced hornets), but still wouldn't trade it for anything 

[smokendevo]

I feel for you Don, we feel like prisoners in our own back yard: 

• Deer: will eat everything we have planted except foxglove (including deer resistant)
• Turkeys: run in packs of 8-12 or more leaving huge droppings all over the deck, patio, driveway, basically everywhere except inside the house.  We put up an 8-foot deer fence this year because we figured they're usually too lazy to fly - the other day we saw them make a short flight to the roof, and then into the fenced back yard
• Bears: like to tear up bird feeders.  They also ruined a dwarf plum tree - tore it down to eat the fruit
• Moose: grab the branches of one of our ornamental plum trees at the base, and then strip everything off to the tip of the branch, much like you would strip thyme leaves off the stem
• Skunks: a family of four somehow crept up the wall space into our attic above the bedroom - they made it their home and we had to move out of the bedroom
• Racoons: killed all our chickens just for sport.  I got that one though - one night I heard commotion at the chicken house - went up there and took him out with an S/W 29 - did blow a hold in the roof though
• Porcupines: wreak havoc on every dog we have ever owned (of course, the dogs learn quickly)
• Gophers: make it so our garden looks like a Bugs Bunny cartoon with the plants shaking as they eat at the root system

Lots of pesky problems (carpenter ants, yellow jackets, white-faced hornets), but still wouldn't trade it for anything 

Holy Cow PZ
I used to complain about the twenty or so wild pussy cats that the lady next door keeps feeding and then they come over and poop in my flower beds but after your write up I feel blessed 

[Smokin Don]

PZ it looks like if you want to enjoy wild life you have to put up with the rewards!  Don