owl attacks

[spanna]

hi all

have in the past had the occasional attack by a bird at night, but it seems a mopoke/boobook (small owl) has marked my holding aviary as part if its hunting domain as i have had more frequent attacks. have solar lighting at night so the birds can find their way back to the perch but some land on the wire and sit there and are then attacked (couple of missing feathers obvious this morning ). am seeing redwing for some orchard netting to put in front of the aviaries to prevent direct injury from the bird, but am wondering if anyone has any other advice on what to do to prevent these nighttime terrors. thought about rigging a trap and relocating the bird because this is getting ridiculous.

cheers
spanna

[snap_point]

Try getting a plastic owl / large bird and attach it to the top of your aviary, works well I hear .

[jusdeb]

The local cheap shop had solar lights but in the statue of a quite realistic owl ...Of course when I went back they were all gone but maybe there are some floating about other cheap shops.
The bird netting should create a fair barrier between the aviary and the predators.

[flap]

We were given a plastic owl (from Bunnings) which we filled with sand and put on the aviary. Might be worth trying? We have butcher birds hanging around on and off but no actual attacks (it seems the birds we have to watch for that are the ones on the INSIDE of our aviary - still upset about our quail debacle...). What about a sensor light of some kind (probably not very practical though)? plastic snakes? though with your aviaries being partly open you could only put then on the enclosed section so you don't freak your birds out.
Hope you figure out a way of stopping the attacks.

[glen]

Hi

Here in RSA we have plenty owls as well as other raptors esp the smaller ones that really like to hone in on averies and cause major injuries to our birds esp finches , I am talking broken wings,legs bleeding heads broken beaks all this just as they try to get away from the raptors species, many methods have been tried and work , but one that has really worked for Owls is to take strips of tin foil and hang them from post or trees around the averies , I have been told that the tin foils reflection from the lux given by the moon or starts or any light for that matter really messes the owl sight and hunting abality, similar effect have been very sucsessful with the eradication of bats as the tin foil reflects their sonar that they use for hunting and they leave the location they have inhabitied.

Obviously this is not a pretty sight around ones avery however if it does the trick for a few nights then I am sure the Owl will relocate or simply find an additional hunting ground.

My 5c worth out of Africa....

Good luck

G..

[flap]

This reminds me of another strategy I have heard of, which is hanging CDs. I assume the principle is the same as the tin strips.

[Diane]

The wine bags are good for the hanging metal strips. They are made from an inner and outer (the silver part)bag. The breeder gets to drink the wine and by the time the bag is empty they dont care what the garden looks like with the tin strips hanging from every tree!

[Greg41]

We have an owl on the top of the aviary, worked well for a while until the problem birds got used to it. I took it down and painted it a
different colour and it worked again, also have CD's hanging around. A lady we met that had a similar problem had plastic snakes on top of
her aviarys and also all over the yard.Best of luck with a solution, catching and removing the owl seems the best solution.
Cheers Greg.

[spanna]

thanks for the ideas guys. have some netting up to stop the owl getting in direct contact with birds, and will try some of the other ideas as well. thanks again!

[jusdeb]

The snakes works really well , NOT not only did the wonder dog snatch it and try to kill it but the nasty birds actually land on it on top of the aviary ...
CDs are good until you want to sit outside , then the sun reflecting of the CD gives you the equivalent of welders flashburn .

Thinking a barrier solution will work best since its only the birds that are silly enough to land on the wire near the predators that cop it ...also find the breeze moving the netting puts outside birds off landing as it isnt stable.