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Bird Scaring

 
Bird scaring is the dispersal of birds using stimuli that make them uncomfortable.

Bird Scaring
Bird Scaring device fitted on a flat roof
The majority of systems emit a sound connected with predator birds or distress calls. Scaring is often thought by the public to be a cheap simple effective solution to all bird problems. This is not the case. Birds are intelligent creatures and can rapidly become habituated to initially frightening sights or sounds once they realise that they pose no real threat.

Cheap and simple visual scarers like plastic owls simply do not work. Often the most effective scaring techniques are those involving visual and audible systems that are managed on an ongoing basis rather than just being placed in situ and left. The most useful techniques developed are those for moving starlings from night roosts, seagulls from expansive areas and flocks of birds from airport runways. There are also other situations where problem urban birds can be successfully dispersed, or where scaring can perform a useful part of a bird management.

Even in areas where scaring is used, it is generally still important to proof key heavy pressure locations such as nesting sites in order to solve the problem. Distress and Predator Bird Calls

Many species of birds have a "distress call". These are sounds that the birds transmit only when they are being attacked by a predator. Distress call scaring systems have a recording of the distress call of the pest bird, which is played back through a series of loudspeakers. Broadcasting distress calls elicits different reactions in different species of pest birds. Social and aggressive birds that communicate verbally within colonies, such as gulls and corvids will usually fly towards the source initially to see if they could mob the predator and help their kind. When the call ceases and they do not find a predator they are then unnerved or 'scared' by the possible danger and disperse. Birds that do not communicate much verbally or do not have bills or claws to threaten predators such as pigeons or starlings will tend to stop and assess the situation then disperse. The best results come from the distress calls of the actual pest bird species causing the problem.

When social birds are dispersed using other scaring methods such as loud noises they generally do not fly far away. They would normally just settle on the nearest safe perch, which might be quite close to the area where they are causing a problem. With the use of distress calls, they generally tend to move further away from the call source.

Natural bird distress calls played back at a natural sound level are normally not intrusive to people.

Enviroguard supply a wide range of Audio Distress Systems for different situations and can advise on the most suitable for your specific bird problem.


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