[Oneiric]

Originally Posted by Robbie0723

Reflective spinners are another option.

Just our experience- the birds eventually got used to the reflective spinners and just sat a little further away.

[Oneiric]

Originally Posted by dsnrbec

Are they installed all around the top or just in places?

Birds have good eyes and can see them at a distance looking where they might land. They must be installed on the entire perimeter of your bird cage. You can barely see them and having zero birds is well worth the effort.

[OhioBuckeye]

They work but you have to move the decoy every couple of days, otherwise the birds get used to seeing it in the same spot. We have an Owl Decoy & tried to get rid of 2 Turtle Doves from landing in our Lani now the Turtle Doves think they’re buddies with the Owl Decoy. I found out a big rubber snake does better than the Owl or hang a couple of aluminum pie plate on the bird cage. If you get an Owl Decoy from Amazon get one that has a motion detecter that hoots when something lands near it !

[Jimmy Lee]

My neighbor had a bird problem and installed a couple of plastic owls. Within a few weeks the birds were ignoring them. He then had stainless steel spikes installed along the top ridges of his bird cage and it solved the problem. Years ago I bought a plastic owl to keep the crows off my mother's front yard in Michigan. It only took the crows about 2 days to figure out it was fake. I subsequently learned that crows are among the smartest birds. They can do arithmetic! This was determined by researchers who erected a tent near where crows were roosting. They then sent 5 people into the tent. This would cause the crows to become aggravated and they stayed aggravated until all 5 people left the tent. It didn't matter if 2 people left then two more people left and then one person left or if they left in any other order or combination. Until all 5 people left the tent the crows stayed aggravated. They repeated the experiment with up to 8 people.

[ElDiabloJoe]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Lee

... They can do arithmetic! This was determined by researchers who erected a tent near where crows were roosting. They then sent 5 people into the tent. This would cause the crows to become aggravated and they stayed aggravated until all 5 people left the tent. It didn't matter if 2 people left then two more people left and then one person left or if they left in any other order or combination. Until all 5 people left the tent the crows stayed aggravated. They repeated the experiment with up to 8 people.

This just tells me they don't like ANY people in their tent, regardless of the number of people. No math skills involved.

I had an owl on my dock up north. It was covered in bird crap, they roosted on it. I tossed it and got a couple of black rubber snakes on Amazon. Boy, those were great! For about one summer. Then the birds completely ignored it.

I found some of those spike strips at an estate sale. I installed them (upside down) on the beam above the boat lift cables, the preferred roosting (and crapping) spot of the swallows. Those lift cables happen to be directly above my boat. They (and their crapping) have not roosted on the cables since. Make sure to buy yourself a pack of stainless steel screws for mounting in any outdoor capacity.