Grackles - Problem birds

[Gene2021]

Anybody have a solution for grackle birds? Im in MN, they migrate in to nest and love to drop their hatchling "Poop sack" away from the nest and their favorite place is water. They love to drop on the pool cover and it is a long process to properly clean up before we can open the pool cover. They generally fly over and "bombing run" the cover. I've tried the big balloon predator eyes & streamers. It only last about a month, but very messy and frustrating during that process. I'm at the point where I put a separate tarp over the pool b/c that's easier to haul off and rinse over in the grass than trying to clean the pool cover so much,

Curious if anyone else has come across this or has any solid solutions for these aggressive birds.
Thanks

 

[kimkats]

Hi and welcome to your first post!

There are several posts about those nasty birds.

Grackle Season

For about 4 years now, my husband and I have had No grackle poop in the pool. We still have grackles, but my husband stays on it. Our yard has a border (neighbor) of some type of Evergreen trees, roughly 18ft. high. When they start to flock and gather in them,he gives them a few days, then...

www.google.com

Blackbirds/Grackles

How the heck do you stop these birds from dropping there hatchlings feces in your pool. For those who don't know, they make sacks of there young ones Crud and drop them in water to protect the smell from would be predators. I bought scare ballons and they laughed at them!! I tried owl decoys yea...

www.google.com

Blackbirds/Grackles

How the heck do you stop these birds from dropping there hatchlings feces in your pool. For those who don't know, they make sacks of there young ones Crud and drop them in water to protect the smell from would be predators. I bought scare ballons and they laughed at them!! I tried owl decoys yea...

www.google.com

I hope these might help.

 

[mariane]

We have reactivated the grackle war at our pool.
Originally I had stated I would rather deal with the poop on the cover vs. poop on the bottom of the pool.
I retract that statement. Now without a winter cover and bird poop on the rails and on the pool bottom, it is much easier to clean the pool than to clean the cover. No larvae, bugs, birds using it as a bird bath or dead things that stink up the cover and make it almost impossible to clean.
We won't be swimming for several weeks anyway and this way we can enjoy looking at the water instead of the ugly swamp the pool cover becomes.

 

[Gardenlover239]

I’ve tried plastic owls, fake dead crows, scare tape, and decoy ducks but the brids would land right next to them without a care.

I’d shoot them but would either put an eye out or shoot a hole in the fence or pool.

I put up fishing line and have seen a 400% decrease of poop around or in the pool. The birds also dislike a garden hose I have around the pool deck, maybe they think it is a snake. I have also noticed that the birds don’t like landing close to the bright orange foamy pool floats if they are laying on the pool deck.

 

[mariane]

The "dead" birds are working well for us. We just have to make sure we move them to a new location every day or two. We have 4 of them to place strategically. They sit out 24/7 and are now looking like they are decomposing.

 

[jgofnj]

I’ve tried plastic owls, fake dead crows, scare tape, and decoy ducks but the brids would land right next to them without a care.

I’d shoot them but would either put an eye out or shoot a hole in the fence or pool.

I put up fishing line and have seen a 400% decrease of poop around or in the pool. The birds also dislike a garden hose I have around the pool deck, maybe they think it is a snake. I have also noticed that the birds don’t like landing close to the bright orange foamy pool floats if they are laying on the pool deck.

Fishing line? this sounds interesting but not sure I know what you mean. Exactly what do you do with the fishing line. I am very curious as I have the same issue every year.

 

[Gardenlover239]

I tightly strung the fishing line across the pool in a zig zagging pattern, high enough so that I don’t hit it while in the pool. I strung it between existing umbrella poles. I’ll remove it when guests come over to swim.

I’m thinking of rigging up some velcro straps with hooks so It will be quickly put up or taken down. I’m also going to play around with stringing the fishing line between the trees at the fence line to see if that will work as well, if so, I won’t have to take it down once it’s in place.

I noticed that they do the same at restaurants with outdoor seating to stop the seagulls from harassing the diners.

 

[borjis]

You might try the dead fake bird trick someone mentioned. Worked well for others as well.

 

[Gardenlover239]

Maybe I’m taking this personal, maybe it’s war, but I’ve just added a new tool to my bird scare war chest. It’s a 6’ tall tube man, a smaller version of the ones you see outside tire stores. The tubeman is powered by a small fan at the base, which causes the tubeman to dance around. Hopefully the perfect scarecrow to cover the area the fishing line didn’t cover.

I now have more bird scare toys than I do pool toys.

 

[mariane]

Maybe I’m taking this personal, maybe it’s war, but I’ve just added a new tool to my bird scare war chest. It’s a 6’ tall tube man, a smaller version of the ones you see outside tire stores. The tubeman is powered by a small fan at the base, which causes the tubeman to dance around. Hopefully the perfect scarecrow to cover the area the fishing line didn’t cover.

I now have more bird scare toys than I do pool toys.

Oooo. Gotta show a picture