Not as much fun to build and deploy, but equally effective is pigeon-repellent adhesive. It prevents the birds from landing on treated surfaces and is not too unsightly.
The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem
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Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem
#12If you want the low-tech solution, here is a recipe that definitely resolved it for me: - One big spoon of cinnamon - One big spoon of chilli peppers - Half a bottle of cheap, cleaning vinegar Spray it in all the places that the pigeons want to land. I am doing that once a week and it is enough to keep them away. If you clean your whole balcony with it, you might be able to go through most of the spring - when I thin…
This is interesting, I was under the impression that chili peppers specifically evolved (spiciness) to be edible by birds but not mammals. Maybe that's an adaptation specific to tropical birds?
You are correct; birds are not sensitive to capsaicin [0]. Seems this is specifically confirmed for pigeons [1].
Perhaps the cinnamon or vinegar are the true repellents?
Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem
#13Would love to see the demo
Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem
#14Hi HN! I commented about this project of mine a month ago [0] and decided to write a more in depth blog post about it. Feel free to ask any questions :) [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31024099
So how do you aim the water gun? I see no servo motors? Or is it more like a wide spray nozzle?
Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem
#15Hi HN! I commented about this project of mine a month ago [0] and decided to write a more in depth blog post about it. Feel free to ask any questions :) [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31024099
So how do you aim the water gun? I see no servo motors? Or is it more like a wide spray nozzle?
I don’t aim it at all at the moment. The pigeons mostly land directly behind the railings, as documented by their… presents ;)
Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem
#16Hi HN! I commented about this project of mine a month ago [0] and decided to write a more in depth blog post about it. Feel free to ask any questions :) [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31024099
Did you see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIbkLjjlMV8
Actually not, but it looks similar (minus the network insanity)
Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting question! The geometry of my balcony kind of restricts the number of places that observe the pigeons without spying on my neighbors. Therefore I’m not sure where else I could put another camera. I’m thinking about a auto-aiming gun for the next iteration, though.
One in each corner of the window of the balcony? Just add two microphones and try to integrate the sound and video for extra style points?
I wanted to add video recording in the future to gain some lol-points. But to be honest, the still images of the pigeons + my imagination had me jumping like a child in excitement already ;)
Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem
#18Consider using background subtraction for this: https://docs.opencv.org/4.x/d1/dc5/tutorial_background_subtr...
Will make things a little more robust (and overengineered!).
Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem
#19> [Spikes] work IFF you buy the right ones AND put them absolutely everywhere AND are careful to actually mount them correctly AND you don’t plan to use the area covered yourself at all AND you don’t even want to look at its disgraced looks. So it is completely pointless for a balcony.
They can also be horrifically cruel. I've seen a pigeon die after getting impaled on those kinds of spikes and it was a traumatic experience for me, let alone the poor bird. I really appreciate your attempts to solve this problem without resorting to inflicting pain, or worse.
Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem
#20Consider using background subtraction for this: https://docs.opencv.org/4.x/d1/dc5/tutorial_background_subtr... Will make things a little more robust (and overengineered!).
Thanks for the hint!