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The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

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Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

#51

Post by usrusr »

rkuska wrote: post #37
severino wrote: post #24

This is funny. I've tried to make pigeons come into my terrace to feed them and allow them to nest with no success at all. Yet other people struggle to keep them out of their balconies :D

I once found pigeon nest behind my window with 3 eggs in it. I didn't have the heart to destroy the nest. Little did I know about what filth I will have to clean up once they take off. Also, they left behind some very tiny beetles that I battled with for few weeks to come. They were so tiny they managed to squeeze in through the window's sealing. This year I found an egg again. I threw it away.

Surprisingly little excrement before hatching, compared to what comes after. And even that is less ugly than what happens when the magpie gets the chick before it gets too big. My current approach is allowing them to breed but sterilizing the eggs with a quick round of cooking. I feel sorry for them when they are close to giving up (how much conflict between hope and growing doubt fits into a pigeon head?), but just removing the eggs will lead to a another attempt and sometimes I'm away for long enough to allow them to get from zero to hatching

(that's how I learned about the magpie situation, was away long enough to have an entire laying-hatching sequence after leaving when freshly sterilized, I suspect they gave up early, magpie discovered and took the abandoned eggs, remembered the spot and came back to the chicks after the next breeding attempt - pure speculation but the schedule would just fit my absence)

Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

#52

Post by realo »

rglullis wrote: post #6

If 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…

Another low tech solution:

feed them occasionally on your balcony… birds are smart and they will not poo in their food plate.

Cooked pasta works well, nothing will be left when they leave.

Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

#53

Post by catlifeonmars »

logophobia wrote: post #18

Consider 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!).

I’m curious, could you somehow make the background model adaptive by averaging a rolling window of camera frames to use as the background model in this?

Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

#54

Post by finnh »

gbolcer wrote: post #43

I've been looking at some automated way to scare coyotes out of my yard almost every night at 3am. It drives the dog nuts.

Ouch! I hope they aren't howling too. Coyotes howling is one of nature's crazier sounds. The first time I heard it, from a distance, I was all kinds of confused. "Is there a mad hobos-on-meth tea party going on over the next hill? Are they coming for me? Will it be fun?"

Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

#55

Post by michaelcampbell »

realo wrote: post #52
rglullis wrote: post #6

If 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…

Another low tech solution: feed them occasionally on your balcony… birds are smart and they will not poo in their food plate. Cooked pasta works well, nothing will be left when they leave.

Hard disagree, or our pigeons are especially daft. (To be fair, ours are wild Mourning Doves), but they crap all over the food and water receptacles we have out for a variety of birds.

Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

#56

Post by michaelcampbell »

ihaveajob wrote: post #23

I've been daydreaming about something like this for my squirrel problem. The damn things nearly leave me without nectarines unless I install a cumbersome, unsightly net over the tree.

Not sure this will work but for our birdseed we've had good luck with that super hot pepper oil. Less than a teaspoon of it in a (1/2 gallon?) sized container of birdseed, shaken for 30s-1m to get it distributed has kept the squirrels and raccoons off of it. Couple times and they don't even bother.

Doesn't bother the birds, but mammal tongues light right up.

Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

#57

Post by t-3 »

oblak wrote: post #31
ihaveajob wrote: post #23

I've been daydreaming about something like this for my squirrel problem. The damn things nearly leave me without nectarines unless I install a cumbersome, unsightly net over the tree.

Squirrels eat nectarines/peaches? Maybe I should hit wikipedia more often and check out things that "everyone knows"

Squirrels are just tree rats. They'll eat anything. I'm more sueprised that nets are effective than their choice of food.

Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

#58

Post by everybodyknows »

nullc wrote: post #47

You can just buy off the shelf a ordinary lawn sprinkler controlled by a motion sensor. Though maybe the total amount of water might be undesirable on a balcony. I found them quite effective at supplementing a fence to keep deer out of areas they shouldn't be in.

Any particular motion sensor? Low voltage?

Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

#59

Post by maxmunzel »

catlifeonmars wrote: post #53
logophobia wrote: post #18

Consider 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!).

I’m curious, could you somehow make the background model adaptive by averaging a rolling window of camera frames to use as the background model in this?

This is pretty much what I’m doing. Except that I’m using an exponential moving average so I don’t have to mess with windowing.

Re: The overengineered solution to my pigeon problem

#60

Post by Conlectus »

andai wrote: post #10
rglullis wrote: post #6

If 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?

Adding on: Though there is no consensus, I believe that is now the less-popular theory for the origin of spiciness. It seems instead to be a form of pesticide and fungicide.

Evidence for this is that pepper varieties tend to be spicier in wetter environments, where the biological resources spent on producing capsaicin to fight fungus are more valuable than preserving them in case of drought.

Source: https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2012/issue131b/

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