Anyone else at Museums have this problem?

Wildlife conservation awards ?

I have so many I’ve run out of display space. Can you instead send me some ammo for my 12 bore ?

John Green- I have read all your posts on this thread and am deeply touched by your warm, caring nature and the compassion your show for our fellow creatures. I will look on the internet to see if I can find a wildlife conservation award I can nominate you for.

Piano wire strung at foot intervals at a metre or so above displays work, are legal in Aus and humane. Works by surprising and disrupting birds as they land, as power lines sadly do sometimes for Ag pilots…Ewan, you can see this above GFB bakery in Fairbank Rd Clayton. Not cheap if you need to call in the pros, but doable by a practical volunteer organisation

Are the birds edible?

This is probably the most thoughtful response. Treat them as a food source. If the supply is inexhaustible and it is free then, one could establish a shop/cafeteria at the museum selling tasty corella products such as corella and chips, corella Oz style with a special Fosters lager sauce, spaghetti bolognese with minced corella or, with a superb brown sauce; shepherds corella pie. One could develop a very extensive menu with which to augment the museum’s funds.

I’m ready to volunteer my culinary services – free of charge.

Are Australian sugar cane toads also edible ?

People will care more about fluffy animals that some old planes and it would be bad publicity for the museum -and very probably illegal- if that harm befalls some rare species or someone’s pet cat.

And here is the incredible quandry – the birds are listed as a protected species yet also listed as a declared pest. Damned if you do…..

Deterrents will be the way to go. We will have to try a few things out and see what works best. Naturally when the collection is all indoors it won’t be a problem but with the weather being hot and all at the moment the birds have swarmed from regional areas into the suburbs and clearly causing problems. Dunno where they go at night, and I must admit I’m surprised they don’t worry about the GA aircraft etc at the airport here (which is the third busiest in Australia in terms of traffic ) Fearless little tykes !

Actually, birds nesting in an airframe is quite common. Live or static aircraft.

Are the birds edible?

Bellarine

Buy me a return ticket and I’ll do the job for you.

Build a hangar. It might be expensive but still cheaper than getting caught killing protected critters.

Sniper bloke with air rifle ? At night with a strong light while they’re roosting.

Don’t, arsenic is highly toxic to most mammal life…………..

Arsenic (except in trace amounts) is highly toxic to all known life except some extremophile bacteria that can just about tolerate big quantities of it.

Sometimes, some harm has to be done for the greater good !

People will care more about fluffy animals that some old planes and it would be bad publicity for the museum -and very probably illegal- if that harm befalls some rare species or someone’s pet cat.

Chilli sauce won’t work I’m afraid, birds have no taste receptors for chilli! I reckon the raptor option might work. Also, anti pigeon spikes might be worth a go? They’re pretty unsightly but I’m sure I’ve seen them on Vulcans etc in the UK to stop the whitewash effect.

How would those spikes be securely attached without damaging the airframes?. Also they are unsightly.
I didn’t know that about birds and chilli, but bitternss seems to be a pretty universal taste to be avoided. A stab in the dark but would a bitter compound mixed with vaseline – which would be more durable to rain – be a good deterant?

Interesting subject !!!

Thanks for bringing this subject up Ewan, I’ve never” twigged” ( :stupid: -oops sorry !!! ) this before, but it is a definate problem. Interesting questions and answers too. A few cats around would help. Here in UK, to my knowledge the problems with Birds and Static Aircraft is the birds nesting and roosting habits.
The birds Guano build up inside airframes + the odd dead carcases and food bits left, not to mention nesting debris, start off a corrosion problem and if not found—expensive yuk !! in sorting out.

The Parrokeets problem in London, that Spartacus mentions is another problem in the making, no doubt individuals pets thrown out and breed into a colony. If these birds ever made their way up to my house and started the felt roof ripping process on my flat roofed garage, then the 2 cats and dog would harass them non stop. The dog barking would alert the cats and they can climb all over roof of our bungalow as well as sneak up on Garage. In Winter the one cat wakes me up to go out at between 5-6am to catch anything and in Summer around 3-30— 4 am. The birds have wised up to this though now, but the odd rats haven’t. Also around here birds of prey glide by quite often, so that sounds like a good idea for your Museum too.

The Newark C/pit Fest here in UK, used to have a “Birds of Prey”section that attended for display mainly. (Don’t know if they still do ). So maybe a chat with your local “Birds of prey” society might be of mutual benefit.

Ewan, please keep us posted on developments as really these various “Birds” habits problems affect museums and private collections everywhere and pooling ideas has to be a good thing. But of course here in UK, we don’t have the snakes /spiders/lizards/etc/etc problems that other countries do, so we don’t have to watch out for:- “Rattlers”–Cobra’s-Brown–Mamba’s, Funnel Webs and Red Backs–etc which would freak out most volunteers who ever disturbed one.

Bill T.

Tony,

Plastic owls ? Or, plastic anything, do not work around marinas. There’s a fortune waiting the first person to invent something to deter primarily starlings, but also pigeons and the occasional gull squatting on top of your mast laughing, whilst disgorging the contents of its bowels all over your pristine ship after gorging on blackberries come the autumn !

I’ve tried everything.

Anything that eats birds, or indeed any convenient piece of meat lying on the ground.

Sometimes, some harm has to be done for the greater good !

Wont one of those plastic owls scare them off?

like this

http://www.pigeoncontrolresourcecentre.org/html/reviews/anti-perching-plastic-owls.html

or the likes of

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ANIMAL-WATER-JET-SPRAY-PEST-DOG-CAT-REPELLER-FOX-BIRDS-HERONS-SQUIRREL-/231751718839

or better still

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/301715589518?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=122&chn=ps&googleloc=1006507&poi=&campaignid=207297426&device=c&adgroupid=13585920426&rlsatarget=aud-133395220866%3Apla-131843267346&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=122&ul_noapp=true

other suggestion is to pressurise it 😉

.

Anything that eats birds, or indeed any convenient piece of meat lying on the ground.

Don’t, arsenic is highly toxic to most mammal life…………..

Isn’t that the general idea ! What other mammals will there be, looking for extra nutrition ?

There is actually a similar problem in London with Parakeets and Felt roofs. What many people in the UK don’t realise is that there is now a re large naturalised resident population of ring necked parakeets and there has been a massive increase in damage to flat roofs in areas where they are prolific, it has become bad enough for serious consideration to be given to have them officially declared ‘vermin’ and an ‘invasive species’

DAY 1…Birdseed
DAY 2 …Birdseed
DAY 3….Birdseed
DAY 4….Birdseed
DAY 5….Birdseed and Arsenic

:eagerness::eagerness::eagerness::eagerness:

Don’t, arsenic is highly toxic to most mammal life…………..

DAY 1…Birdseed
DAY 2 …Birdseed
DAY 3….Birdseed
DAY 4….Birdseed
DAY 5….Birdseed and Arsenic

:eagerness::eagerness::eagerness::eagerness: