A Solution to Mourning Doves on the Bird Feeder...

generator12

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Some time back I posted about using a bb pistol to discourage mourning doves from ravaging my bird feeder. They get up there and throw a couple of ounces of sunflower seed onto the ground for every one they eat. It appears that they're sorting through and selecting the specific seeds they want. I watched this day after day after day while continuing to put about $30 worth of seed - sunflower and finch blend, each in its own compartment - every month.

Finally I had a bright idea..! I gave up on the pistol and went to O-Reilly's Auto Parts and bought a small car horn - just a flat disk with a mounting bracket attached - for about ten bucks. Dropped a two-wire hookup out the kitchen window between the horn (which resides right in the seed, facing the perch rod) and a 12 volt battery charger which sits on a small table next to the window in the kitchen.

Well I never thought a dove could move so fast..! One short honk and it's gone - and I don't mean twenty feet to the nearest tree, I mean out of sight! I've used it three times and no longer have an issue with doves on the feeder. It's amazing, almost as if they've communicated with each other about it. I've gone almost a week and not seen one up there. I don't think I've ever gone more than a couple of days between visits.

Of course a squirrel discovered the cable running from the ground up to the feeder and decided to give it a try. Gadzooks! He didn't just jump off. He vaulted off, landed at least ten feet away, and hit the ground running.

I'll leave the setup in place for another week and see what happens.
 

MTboatguy

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Hate to tell, they will get used to it, I did that a few years ago and when I hit the horn now, they simply look at me and keep throwing seed.

Good luck!

:blue:
 

gm280

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Animals and birds are very adaptable. On some runways they use to use bang explosions to clear birds off the runways. Well the birds just stop leaving and they had to go to other things. Now they have bogs trained to run off birds. And the bogs have vest on them with protection glasses and hearing protection as well. They do look funny, but then do the job better then anything else they've tried.
 

Gyrene

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I hate them. They are just rural pigeons with no redeeming qualities. All they do is coo and poo. My first house had a slate roof and they would sit on the crest and leave white streaks from poo - I took a pellet rifle and got a whole row of them - they didn't fly off as their neighbor tumbled down the roof!
I understand a falcon can eat two a day......
 

generator12

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Boatguy, you may be right, but I think the fact that the horn is just 3 to 4 inches away and directed right at them will make the difference. I know it would with me...!

GM280, I recognize what you're saying. Years ago, when I worked as a maintenance electrician at the old Sherwin Williams plant on the south side of Chicago, they tried to break up the flocks of pigeons that constantly hung around all the process buildings. They installed bright strobe lights thinking that the flashing would disturb them enough to discourage flocking on the roofs. All that happened was the pigeons clustered around the lights to keep warm in winter...!
 

gm280

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Boatguy, you may be right, but I think the fact that the horn is just 3 to 4 inches away and directed right at them will make the difference. I know it would with me...!

GM280, I recognize what you're saying. Years ago, when I worked as a maintenance electrician at the old Sherwin Williams plant on the south side of Chicago, they tried to break up the flocks of pigeons that constantly hung around all the process buildings. They installed bright strobe lights thinking that the flashing would disturb them enough to discourage flocking on the roofs. All that happened was the pigeons clustered around the lights to keep warm in winter...!

Yeap generator12, birds, or I should say all animals, are extremely adaptive. I don't run any bird or animal off until it starts doing real damage. Then it is me against them. Squirrels are the worst for such damage. They like to eat wire, and if they get into your attic, problems will follow.
 

MTboatguy

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One of the local Fish Wildlife and Parks guys here explained why they get used to it so quick, is because they don't hear the same tones we do in the same way, with us we respond to not only tone, but we respond to sound pressure, the way the birds ears work is quite different, they don't respond to the pressure, and their tone range is different to ours, so they don't experience the discomfort that we do.
 

gm280

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One of the local Fish Wildlife and Parks guys here explained why they get used to it so quick, is because they don't hear the same tones we do in the same way, with us we respond to not only tone, but we respond to sound pressure, the way the birds ears work is quite different, they don't respond to the pressure, and their tone range is different to ours, so they don't experience the discomfort that we do.

MT, that may be right, but they do respond to a 12 gauge or a 22 rim fire all the time. They never get use to it. :eek:
 

thumpar

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The multi pump daisy pellet/bb gun works pretty good too. It is good for us people that live in a neighborhood because it is quiet.
 

KJM

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I had the same problem with blue jays, I watched them throw away seeds and scare off other birds for half the summer and then they started to bring their young ones too! shot a few with a pellet gun and that solved that problem but the wife and kids wouldn't talk to me for a few days. around here mourning doves are rare and a welcome visitor to the feeder.
 

DeepCMark58A

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Don't feed the birds if you can not appreciate bird behavior, songbirds can not be legally killed. It is a karma things the birds are doing no harm.
 

gm280

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We actually feed hummingbirds and they fight continuously from daylight til the sun sets. And they get into some pretty lengthy fights too. I've seen them peck each other in their heads when feeding. I seen them fight while flying to get away. Seem hummingbirds are extremely territorial. But we still feed them. And they are now feeding up for the migration to come in the fall. They are feeding near a half gallon fluid a day and some times more. Other birds try to get to the liquid, but the design of the feeders inhibits other birds from getting any. And they quickly move alone.So no problems with waste bird seed or food at all.
 

KJM

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actually I felt kind of bad about shooting the blue jays and swore I wouldn't do it again. I felt doubly bad when sunflowers started blooming all around the yard from seeds they had hidden. i'll let nature be nature from now on.
 

MTboatguy

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Don't feed the birds if you can not appreciate bird behavior, songbirds can not be legally killed. It is a karma things the birds are doing no harm.

Doves are considered a pest bird in my part of the country and we can shoot them year around
 

KJM

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I've read that they are the most hunted bird in America. I would love to have more of them around here, hunting from my back deck for dinner!
 

roscoe

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I've got birds that sit in the tree just 20-40' from me, as I shoot red squirrels with my 22. Sometimes they will fly, but not far. They even sit on the feeder while I mow the lawn. One mourning dove sits on the deck railing and looks in the window when the feeder is empty.
 

generator12

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Well it's been an interesting couple of weeks with this issue.

Predictably the squirrels discovered the cable leading to the feeder, requiring several re-positioning efforts before I could eliminate their "participation". They were vaulting off the water dish - a perch and distance from which I hadn't thought they could make it. (But you never count out squirrels..!)

In any case, instead of five or six visits a day from doves, I'm down to one visit every couple of days. It's as though they've communicated with each other about it. Of course, it's always temporary. So now I'm researching remote means of triggering a 12-volt battery pack into the horn - doing it wirelessly. I can hang an 8-battery pack of alkalines beneath the feeder and, with infrequent and intermittent use, may have a more or less permanent solution to the doves.
 
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