Preparing for battle against the blackbirds/grackles...year 2!

[DiverGirl1972]

Bit of a long story….

So, the season for blackbirds/grackles and their fecal sac attack is fast approaching. Last year, we tried several things, from owl statues around the pool, alligator toys in the pool, rubber snakes on the pool deck, ultrasonic bird repellent devices, etc… In addition, the previous owners tried blasting birds of prey sounds, putting up a couple of those inflatable tube men that dance around in front of oil change businesses and a litany of other attempts to stop the onslaught! Haha No luck to be had.

We are embarking on our second full pool season and thanks to TFP, the pool care has been a snap. No issues there once I finally got sorted out and I am looking forward to my labor of love opening in a couple of weeks.

Unfortunately, in the Spring, we endure an extended season of these birds dropping their fecal sacs in and around our pool, patio and property at large (the cars parked outside get BOMBED). Allegedly, it’s only supposed to last for a couple of weeks, but our birds apparently didn’t get this memo. It lasted for nearly 6 weeks last year and did eventually completely taper off.

I would spend an hour and a half cleaning up around the pool and thoroughly vacuuming and within another hour or two, it would look like I hadn’t even been out there. This happened REPEATEDLY last year. There were tears…it wasn’t pretty! haha

So, this year, we got a pellet gun but alas, we're not very good shots. While just the noise was good enough to scare them away temporarily, unless you stand out there and keep at it for weeks to prevent them from even nesting there, they just come back. There are too many of them. And they’re bold!

We’re now onto plan B and to be honest, it’s our last resort (unless someone has another idea! Lol). It’s a little crazy, but hey, we’re all in! lol

So here’s the plan….We’re going to erect two 25-foot flagpoles out in the yard, just past our retaining wall and string bird netting completely around our pool and patio, attaching at the house in a semi-circle type shape.

We already have the first flagpole up and the first bird netting barrier in place. While the concrete base is permanent, the flagpole doesn’t have to be at this point. We didn’t fill in the base that the flagpole sits in with sand…at least we haven’t yet. If this doesn’t work, we certainly don’t want two semi-permanently placed 25 ft flagpoles in our field of view, so they will go away. I’m hoping this works, though! If it does work, we will likely keep one flagpole up year-round, fill it with sand & fly Old Glory ?
Anyway, just wanted to share our adventure! Haha I’ll post updated pictures as the next sections go up. If you don’t suffer from this issue, consider yourself lucky. If you do, I hope this brings you some amusement or solace that you’re not alone!

 

[PoolGate]

Wow that's hardcore! Honestly if it was me, I would get one of those screen enclosures they use on a lot of Florida pools.

 

[DiverGirl1972]

Yeah, it is a bit extreme, but we're a little crazy like that! haha We discussed an enclosure, but we just don't want a permanent structure covering the pool year-round for a 6-week problem. We love being outside in the sun, swimming and throwing balls from the pool to our three dogs waiting in the yard Depending on how this plays out, we may revisit that option down the road, but we're pretty excited to see if this works. Hoping to wrap things up this weekend and then we wait...

 

[Pool_Medic]

Another option might be to try find where they are nesting and either remove the nests or give them another body of water to use. Remember they are programmed to fly out of the nest and immediate drop their sacs in the ocean which is close to their nests.

 

[DiverGirl1972]

They're nesting in our neighbor's trees along two sides of our property line closest to the pool...on the other side of our fence. This is a rural area, but several folks who live down our street also have pools. We suspect they deal with this as well on some level, but not nearly to the extent we do. We put a puppy pool out in the yard between the pool and the tree line last year hoping they'd poo on that instead, but they preferred the big, blue pretty pool! haha Not sure how else to add a body of water enticing enough to get them to leave our pool alone.

 

[kefjens]

I have no experience with these kinds of birds so maybe you've tried this already. Do you use a solar cover? What about using a black one so it doesn't look like water?

 

[DiverGirl1972]

Funny, you mention a solar cover. I have been a little leary of getting one as one of our dogs has fallen into the pool twice and didn't seem to be a strong swimmer. She panicked, but I was there both times to pull her out. They will all walk on our safety cover with no reservations, so I was worried they would think they could do the same with a solar cover. They're cute, but not that smart!

With that said, I did just purchase a solar cover to help with heating and maintaining our heated water temps overnight when the pump is off, but I got a clear one and I don't see myself returning it at this point. I suppose the clear one will at least help prevent the bombs from dropping into the pool so that I can scoop them out more easily, but to be honest, the sacs in the pool are a lot easier to deal with than the absolute devastation they create all over our pool deck and patio (which the solar cover won't help with anyway).

 

[ajw22]

I didn’t know exactly what you were talking about until I read this Blackbird Gift Sacs - POND Trade Magazine

 

[onlyjeeps]

Divergirl, from what I've learned, apparently birds do not like bright lights flashed at them! There are many products out there that can accomplish this from fairly cheap reflectors like these
Scare Away Bird Reflector | Nixalite

To different levels of lasers from manual to automatic tracking and firing that absolutely will scare away the birds but at a substantial cost like these

This is a pretty good article explaining the technology, it's use and effectiveness.
Lasers - Avian Dissuader & Bird Phazer - PCRC

Hopefully, some of this will help you in your quest. Personally, I've had decent luck with my bird issues using only rubber snakes and multiple owls moved weekly. I would resort to flat out open shooting season if I were faced with your level of problem!

Dave

 

[DiverGirl1972]

Divergirl, from what I've learned, apparently birds do not like bright lights flashed at them! There are many products out there that can accomplish this from fairly cheap reflectors like these
Scare Away Bird Reflector | Nixalite

To different levels of lasers from manual to automatic tracking and firing that absolutely will scare away the birds but at a substantial cost like these

This is a pretty good article explaining the technology, it's use and effectiveness.
Lasers - Avian Dissuader & Bird Phazer - PCRC

Hopefully, some of this will help you in your quest. Personally, I've had decent luck with my bird issues using only rubber snakes and multiple owls moved weekly. I would resort to flat out open shooting season if I were faced with your level of problem!

Dave

There are flashing lights on the ultrasonic bird repellent devices we bought, though nothing on the level of the Agri-Laser! We have tried the reflectors in various forms with no luck. Plan C may look a little something like this! lol :

 

[jmikeb]

There are flashing lights on the ultrasonic bird repellent devices we bought, though nothing on the level of the Agri-Laser! We have tried the reflectors in various forms with no luck. Plan C may look a little something like this! lol : View attachment 96528

i vote for plan c.... ammo is a little expensive though, but FUN?

 

[kimkats]

So your hope is that the fencing will deter them from flying to your pool due to it's height? Here is hoping that works!!

Kim

 

[DiverGirl1972]

I know it sounds bird crazy, but yes, that's the hope! Last year, they would swoop in at a steep angle from the tree tops literally inches above the retaining wall to drop their sacs around the pool. Same thing from the tree line immediately adjacent to the pool itself. This net (in theory! haha) will block their flight. Not saying they can't or won't change their flight pattern but it's going to make it more dangerous and/or inconvenient with the net barrier to hit the pool deck itself.

We'll put the baby pool out further in the yard this year to see if that becomes the easier target and they take the path of least resistance. Maybe they'll even head up the street to a neighbor's pool??? lol They'll probably just hit the patio and cars harder, but that's ok. My car is the only one garage kept and I can easily power wash the patio ;-)

Anyway, that's the hope. Bottom line is, we going for the "win" for the fun of it. I don't know if that's possible, but we're giving it everything we have within reason. Our bird-busting budget this year was $1500 and we're there plus about $500. I'm sure if I were a millionaire, I would be handling this much differently! l'd have my well-paid, TPF-trained pool attendant cleaning it up! haha

 

[rajung]

Somehow I found an old closed thread writing about the same problem and not sure if members are still active. Interesting if the fishing line option ended up working as in one post by fireman00

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.troublefreepool.com

 

[DiverGirl1972]

I think what's most annoying is that every now and again, one of the MANY things we've tried works like a charm for someone else! haha Happy for them, bummed for me. NOT FAIR! We had already started getting normal bird droppings on the top of our safety pool cover in the last couple of weeks as they are now nesting in the trees. They were appearing a few a day.

When my bf got the first flagpole and net up, he washed off all bird dropping from the pool cover so he could see if there were fewer. As of two days later, there are none on there! Coincidence, perhaps. But we're hoping that's a good sign. We're going to put the remaining pole and netting up tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how the birds react...

 

[kimkats]

HA! Divergirl 1 & birds 0 so far!!!

 

[DiverGirl1972]

So, we put up the 2nd flagpole and remaining barrier net around the patio side yesterday. Yes, it definitely takes away from the aesthetics back there, but if it works, we're ok with it for a brief time. Also, if it works and we put the net back up next year, it will only take a fraction of the time.

The potential downsides (that I can see so far) is that the netting gets tangled on things quickly. We don't have the bottom of the netting secured to anything, so it's swinging in the wind. We may have to change that, depending on what happens during our first thunderstorm or very windy day.

I also thought my bf got a much finer mesh net than what he got. A robin got caught in the net briefly but managed to get itself out. I was on my way to rescue it when he broke free. I hate these birds, but I also don't want to see them (or other innocent breeds) suffer. The netting was actually really cheap, so if it becomes a major issue, we may change it out for one with smaller holes.

This year, we'll have to deal with the looks of it a little longer, as we put it up several weeks before it actually started happening last year. According to my memory (and pool log), it seemed to start in the last week of April and tapered off by mid-June, where it was just a few a day. Now, we wait for the little birdies to hatch! lol Our neighbors are probably like, 'What the heck are they doing over there??"

 

[kimkats]

That does not look bad at all! NICE job and here is hoping the birds think so too!!

 

[DiverGirl1972]

Someone messaged me asking about our success with the nets so I figured I'd cut and paste my response in case anyone going through this mess currently wants to know. The first sac showed up on May 1st and it’s been a ? show ever since! It's depressing to think this is going to happen EVERY YEAR! My pool log reads like a war time diary… “Day 5 of the battle…the enemy’s assault is relentless….” lol

So, the nets...

We've definitely had some success with the nets…where we have good coverage. We did have some light “weights” along the bottom of the net, but nothing crazy and we didn’t secure the bottom of the net to anything near the ground. Well, we had an unexpected windstorm, and it flew up and flipped itself back over the line and we can’t untangle it without taking down on of the flagpoles and re-stringing the net. This basically “pulled up the curtain” for them near the diving board, which is where the worst of it is happening ☹ We do plan on fixing this, but we’ve both been crazy busy at work and haven’t had the time to tackle this.

Even before that happened, that area near the diving board was more exposed than we thought it would be. If we could have a do-over, I would have placed the flagpole a little further over so that when the line was attached to the house, it actually enclosed that entire area. Unfortunately, the angle of the netting left the area somewhat unprotected. If the netting hadn’t flipped up, I think the “gifts” would be a lot less, as it would limit their flight path, but alas, that is not the case.

I have definitely noticed they’ve hit our fountain and my bf’s car a lot harder with the pool all netted up, which I’m fine with! lol He likely does not share my humor ?

We did have a few birds get caught in the net, including a couple of robins, in the beginning but no others since. We were able to rescue them but I like to think that it sent a message to the others to be weary of it. Perhaps seeing another bird flapping around, stuck in the net for a few minutes helped to serve as a warning! Lol

If I were to do it again, I would have my bf get netting with smaller holes to make it harder for birds to get caught in it. It does tangle easily and can be a little difficult to work with when trying to get it strung onto the line. We need to do some re-engineering to address the exposed areas if we do. Maybe even try to block more of the patio area as well….

I was able to see it in action the other day. A bird flew straight into it and almost in slow motion, the net gently pushed it right back out! BOING! Anywho, while it’s “better”, I’m still cleaning up 10 – 15+ per day on the pool deck near the diving board and I’m running the robot every couple of days to just stay on top of what’s going into the pool. We’re still also getting pummeled elsewhere on our back patio and property, so there really is no escaping it. It’s like putting your finger in the proverbial hole in the dam and the water shoots out somewhere else.

Funny story, my bf is a home inspector and when he arrived to his first house yesterday, there were fecal sacs all over the ground. He immediately sent me a picture and I was like, oh boy! You better tell them what they’re in for with their new house! Lol

 

[kimkats]

I had such high hopes this would work better. It might be better once you are able fix the netting. At least it is a bit better but man it would be nice not have to deal with it at all