Do Plastic Owls Scare Pigeons

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Pigeons are smart birds. They thrive in urban settings. They are not scared of people. They are scared of predators such as hawks and owls. However, like I said, they are smart birds, with great eyesight, and they damn well know the difference between a fake plastic owl and a live owl! C'mon! You really think pigeons are that dumb? YOU'RE DUMB. Humans constantly underestimate animals.

It's a huge joke in the wildlife removal and pest control industry - the very idea that a fake plastic owl would scare pigeons away! Ridiculous! But some people are gullible enough to buy anything, and it's the cheapest option, so why not try?

Luckily, you CAN buy something plastic to keep pigeons away - needle strips. They come in metal and plastic, and they prevent birds from roosting on unwanted areas, like ledges, beams, signs, roofs, etc. You can install them yourself, or if you need professional pigeon help Click here for my Nationwide List of Pigeon Trappers

Anyway, sorry if I sound like a jerk, I'm just amazed at the number of times I get asked about plastic owls scaring away pigeons. Animals aren't dumb. They know their environment, they know real threats, and they know what it takes to survive. You may not believe it, but animals such as birds have demonstrated complex emotional responses, and I wouldn't be surprised if pigeons actually think plastic owls are funny.



Pigeons can give you a real headache and there is no doubt in this. They simply are very much irritating and you actually have to face a hard time in convincing them to move away from your property. Especially homeowners as well as dwellers of apartment are greatly disturbed by their presence as these are very dirty birds and create not only noise, but also rubbish inside property. Worst of all a good number of diseases are carried and transmitted by pigeons and their dropping create a real mess. It is important to take strong steps for driving away these birds from your property because they cause damage and create foul smell and this will make it difficult for you to survive. Fortunately there are different ways that can be used for the eradication of pigeons from your property. It has been seen that many of the homeowners give preference to using humane ways for removing these birds and for this there is a great variety of methods that can be used.

Read about Pigeon Prevention Tips: How to Keep Pigeons Away without crappy fake owls.

However, not all the methods, which have been suggested by experts, are known for providing results and one of these is the utilization of fake owl made up of plastic for controlling pigeon. There is a simple theory present behind this concept. It is a common observation that pigeons are normally terrified of owls as these are their natural predators. People use decoy owls for scaring away pigeons, but this is not known for providing results in real.

It is fact that fake owls are not going to work on pigeons because they are in a perfect position of telling that these are toys not real predators. These plastic decoys are nowhere near the real ones and pigeons can tell this even from a distance. Real ones move, hoot and rotate their heads and you simply can’t associate all this with the fake plastic owls. It has also been noticed that owls eat pigeons so when a toy is not observed doing this, then slowly the fear is diminished and confidence level of pigeons is increased. You might have heard about more sophisticated models of the birds which include owls showing mechanical movements and sound effects but these are also not effective as well because with the passage of time pigeons learn how to behave.

From the above mentioned points it is very much clear that it is not important that every time cheap and easy is going to work for you because modern pigeons are also very much smart. If you will discuss the matters with bird control experts it will become apparent that they also don’t suggest people to use fake owls because it’s only waste of time nothing else.

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Can You Scare A Pigeon Away With A Plastic Owl?

Everyone who has ever had to wave a pigeon away when they are eating ice cream or french fries will know that while it is easy to scare a pigeon, they are persistent little creatures and regularly come back to try again. There are many different types of things that can scare pigeons, and one of the creative ideas that many people will try is to use the figure of a predatory bird to try and frighten the pigeons away from areas where they are causing a problem. The big question is whether this creativity is actually effective at frightening the pigeons, or whether the animals will actually get used to the plastic bird and start to ignore it.



The Idea Behind Using A Plastic Owl

The main theory behind installing a statue of a predatory bird is to try and make the pigeons feel that they are under threat, and that they will then flee looking for another place where they are not under threat. The difficulty with this is that in the wild, when a predator spots its prey it will try to fly after the pigeons, and although pigeons are in now way clever creatures, they will often understand that there is something wrong when the owl then doesn't start to fly after them. This can then lead to the more curious pigeons returning to have another look to try and see what the problem with the owl was.

How Pigeons Sense Other Birds

One of the main reasons why the idea of a plastic owl doesn't work properly is that pigeons are not only visual creatures, and they actually use a range of different senses to identify the other birds in their surroundings. Pigeons have an excellent sense of smell, so when they do spot an owl as the plastic statue will try to copy, they will normally pick up the scent of the bird along with the owl itself.

How To Deal With A Pigeon Problem Properly

If you have a pigeon problem on the roof, then there are several different options that you can choose, and if there is a dip in the roof where the pigeons can land, then one of the best options is to use anti pigeon netting to stop them from landing. If the pigeons are landing on ledges or window sills, then pigeon shock tracks and anti pigeon spikes are both options worth considering.

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