Bird Repellent circuit

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
18,337
I will continue my research the noise making transducer.
A local blueberry grower uses shiny mylar tape to scare off birds. It moves around in the wind and reflects sunlight and the birds don't like it. Washington State University claims reflecting tape isn't very effective, but the grower still has it up...
 

zophas

Joined Jul 16, 2021
165
Most bird species are extremely intelligent. They eventually work out that what ever you put up to scare them away is not really harmful to them. They will also get used to any noise device you try. In my area the Indian Myna bird is no longer afraid of vehicles and basically just ignores them until someone steps out of said car then they fly away. The only thing they understand is death. They already know that a human with a long device in his hands (pellet gun) represents danger and will give a warning call. You can even get them to give a warning call if you carry a broom stick around. They will also avoid areas where they see corpses of their kind.
 

zophas

Joined Jul 16, 2021
165
@Peter8519 , If you can get a hold of a good recording of the birds (whatever bird is bothering you) warning call and set up a small device to play the call every now and again. That might keep them away from your area. But don't over do it because the birds will figure out that it's bogus if you do.
 

Tonyr1084

Joined Sep 24, 2015
9,744
@Peter8519 , If you can get a hold of a good recording of the birds (whatever bird is bothering you) warning call and set up a small device to play the call every now and again. That might keep them away from your area. But don't over do it because the birds will figure out that it's bogus if you do.
Had a similar thought. But instead of warning calls I was thinking of the call of a predator bird that would make them decide to take refuge somewhere else. I don't know what their natural raptor predator is, so I just throw this out there - the call of a hawk or falcon might work.
 

DickCappels

Joined Aug 21, 2008
10,661
A thought: As a precaution, to avoid annoying your neighbors with false alarms at night, you could use a light sensor to disable the bird annoying function at night since they don't seem to fly about at night much if at all.
 

zophas

Joined Jul 16, 2021
165
Yep, if we see the birds at our feeders suddenly scatter, we look for the hawk. But the don’t announce themselves with a call.

Bob
Raptors are very quiet birds. Good luck getting a call recording from one of them. They probably only call when seeking a mate. Indian Myna and related birds are very social and very noisy including alarm calls.
 

Thread Starter

Peter8519

Joined Nov 18, 2014
36
Most bird species are extremely intelligent. They eventually work out that what ever you put up to scare them away is not really harmful to them. They will also get used to any noise device you try. In my area the Indian Myna bird is no longer afraid of vehicles and basically just ignores them until someone steps out of said car then they fly away. The only thing they understand is death. They already know that a human with a long device in his hands (pellet gun) represents danger and will give a warning call. You can even get them to give a warning call if you carry a broom stick around. They will also avoid areas where they see corpses of their kind.
Exactly. That's why some are run over by cars. This picture was taken locally.
https://mustsharenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/ded-birb-1.jpg
 

Thread Starter

Peter8519

Joined Nov 18, 2014
36
Hi folks,
Please let me know if this will work.
Connect a PIR sensor via relay to a MP3 sound module and play some sound to scare away the birds.
MP3 sound module
mp3_sound_module.jpg

PIR sensor and relay.
PIR_sensor_and_relay.jpg

.... and the sound.
 

zophas

Joined Jul 16, 2021
165
@Peter8519 Yeah that will work....for awhile. I hope you don't piss the neighbours off. I think the birds will eventually work out that it's just a harmless noise that the humans are making.

Edit: Personally I would have chosen the "Click, Bang!" of a .45 instead.
 

Thread Starter

Peter8519

Joined Nov 18, 2014
36
@Peter8519 Yeah that will work....for awhile. I hope you don't piss the neighbours off. I think the birds will eventually work out that it's just a harmless noise that the humans are making.

Edit: Personally I would have chosen the "Click, Bang!" of a .45 instead.
The beauty of this sound module is that I can load any MP3 audio. I can change to this.
 

zophas

Joined Jul 16, 2021
165
Yes, that's a good one. You might find a call in there that scares them off. I did not listen to it all. Did you find a list of what all the bird calls are?
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
27,584
If the birds perch on the same clothsline as the clothes hang on, then one option would be to string a second line perhaps two inches above that line. But the second line will need to have short sections of some sort of tubing on it so that it is free to rotate, which will make the birds fall off and not be able to perch on it. The benefits of this method are that it is safe, cheap, and does not hurt the birds. The disadvantage is that the birds may find some other place to perch. What I saw when I was in Duong Guong City was the clothes lines being put very close to the balcony above so that there was no room for birds to perch on them.
But if the birds are perching far above on something else then that will not work. For that you need an electronic noise-maker that sounds the distress call of that bird species about once every few minutes. That is a lot more complex.
 

Thread Starter

Peter8519

Joined Nov 18, 2014
36
I bought a gadget from waytronic. It's an infrared PIR motion sensor and it can playback mp3 when triggered. I have uploaded an eagle sound mp3 to the device. Hopefully, those pesky birds will trigger the sensor and the eagle comes calling. :cool:
 

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MrAl

Joined Jun 17, 2014
13,709
Snakes are supposed to keep birds away.
Supposedly realistic looking fake snakes too. You could try that. Maybe some added animatronics. Wouldn't be noisy.
 
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