Round 1: Fran – nil – Mynah birds 1 …
I read in the local Facebook forum that there was this you beaut marvellous bird trap that could catch up to a dozen birds at a time….
As they have been bloody pests in the barbeque area where my husband feeds the dogs – stealing food and pooping copiously everywhere …
I thought why not…? except the method of disposal of the said trapped birds bothered me… bird lovers (who could possibly love the Rats With Wings is beyond me) insisted their demise should be humane… a large plastic bag and the car exhaust seemed to be the possible solution offered.. eew.
Anyway… I need not have bothered… after spending $100 (plus postage… my husband unwrapped a most wondrous creation made of cage wire, with a trap door complete with mirror that was supposed to make errant birds think there were already other birds in there…
Husband looked at me… and gave a sigh.. “NO bird will EVER go in there ,” he said…
I had to agree… and so it seems did the local Mynah birds… I think all the extra noise I heard the following couple of days was them falling off their perches laughing… Fran nil – Mynah birds one –
So currently I have this wondrous square shaped box thing complete with mirror for sale at a fraction of its former price… I can guarantee it’s never been used.
But – being of stern stuff, I didn’t give up… I HAD heard that smaller birds are scared of owls… and that you could buy fake ones as bird scarers…
Being down at Bunnings for other reasons ( plants as usual, go on, say it)… I happened to see one… for the princely price of just $10.99 (batteries not included).
He was grey…. plastic – activated by movement… with beady little eyes, and the directions said his eyes would light up and he would hoot when something moved…
So, home he came… batteries were inserted and he was perched on the bench near where the birds came in…
Elizabeth Jack Russell does NOT like birds… and so when she moved and he hooted and flashed his eyes… she flew into a total rage and spent half an hour leaping up and down trying to kill him…which of course made him flash and hoot even more… it was bedlam.
So I moved him and sat him on the gate near where the birds flew in… AND – he’s been bloody marvellous… I didn’t realize birds could do U turns in mid air….
The floor is clean, there’s no more bird poop on the gate and I am not having to hide bird corpses in the garbage collection…
Battle of the Mynah birds versus Fran, Round two: Fran, plus plastic owl, one – birds – nil!
