Ultrasonic Bird Replellers

[TBOT422]

Has anyone had any experience with ultrasonic bird repellers? Our current problem is a couple of pigeons that want to take up residence between our solar panels and the bimini. We were out cruising for a month and I thought they would find a new home, but the minute we returned they came back. At some times during the year we have massive flocks of crows and black birds at dawn and dusk that would also be nice to keep off the rigging.

Do these ultrasonic repellers actually work?

Thanks

[SeaBreeze]

I have no experience with ultrasonic bird repellers but I’ll pass along a couple of ideas to keep birds off the spreaders and mast head. A rigger in St Pete, FL mounted a home made device very similar to a Bird B Gone deflector on my mast head. Google the company name then search ‘bird spider 360’. In my case the rigger used 4 wires mounted to a round base on the mast head. The wires are about 2.5’ long and project out over the windex, TV antenna and wind speed transducer at about a 45 degree angle to the water. They droop a bit. By trial and error we learned the wires need to be a bit stiff or they flop around too much while sailing and can get caught in the transducer or windex. No negative effect on VHF transmission or reception. So far the dreaded ospreys are taking their rest stops elsewhere. The second thing he did was run thin stainless steel wire from the mast to the standing rigging parallel to and about 5” above each spreader. Probably very small birds could balance on the wire but not the bigger guys. So far, after 2 months, we have had no bird problems other than the rare dive bomber dropping his load on his way back to his nest after feeding. By the way, Bird B Gone also sells a spiked device. That gives an osprey a place to stick his meal while casually chowing down on dinner. Not a good deflector as one of my boat neighbors is discovering. Good luch with what ever you decide to use.
Rick Parish
Sea Breeze

[russp]

Hi All,

Not ultrasonic but worked for me. I had cormorants and parrots landing on top of mast and chewing on windex and wind transducer or just making a mess below. I made a mix of lanolin grease (very thick and water resistant) and wasabi, and went up the mast and spread that over all the horizontal surfaces. Haven't seen a bird back on top of the mast since, and don't have ugly mess dripping down the mast either!

[elk]

I've sat in my cockpit and watched a cormorant balance on those wires above the spreader for one and a half hours! They can poop a lot in that time. I've found that using long zip ties around the spreader with the pointy end straight up works well, and is cheap.
I also use a gull sweep that I suspend over the boom from the topping lift when I'm away from the boat. It keeps the Bimini and dodger clean and they also stay off the solar panels that are over the Bimini.

[sargentef]

I host my "bird stopper" with the spare jib halyard to the mast head, the tie wraps flutter around enough to keep the birds away. I make sure to tie the bird stopper off with a tag line.

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Seawing #309] download/file.php?mode=view&id=440