BIRDS!!!

I have discovered a new menace to my poor Rivi. Or rather, a familiar old menace with a new trick. The birds are attacking my rims and mirrors! They go at it all day long. I've seen a cardinal standing on the bone line, pecking away at the mirror. And, of course, shitting. Nice. I chased a flock of them away from my rims today. I guess they are lining up for a chance to tear them up. They hit pretty hard, it would be impressive if they were doing something useful like killing each other.

I haven't found any scratches (just a surprising amount of filth), yet, but the car can't take this kind of beating forever. I've got it halfway wrapped up in plastic now so the birds can't see their reflections (why do they peck their reflections when there are other perfectly real birds standing in the "peck the rims" line?).

Anyone got a way to control the birds, other than shooting them (which is illegal and wouldn't help anyway, as others would fly in and learn the same trick)?

maybe some kind of deoderant/repellent spray? I don't know

Did you recently use caranuba wax or something odd to wash your car with? There must be a smell they are after....

It's not a smell. They see their reflection, think it's another bird in their territory, and attack.

lol, this reminds me of the movie The Birds. You better watch out before they start attacking you! Run!!!


Sorry I couldn't resist. Seriously though, that's really strange. Any particular kind of birds that you can tell that keep doing it?

Okay, this is just random but when you do your own sound effects it's hilarious!

Friggen Birds......... shoot em' with a ghat!

I can't believe they re-made that movie. Really.

Shintsu - song birds of all shapes and sizes.

I need to take up falconry. One day our bird feeder became a bird feeder of a different kind when a hawk came by. That got rid of the song birds for a while.

I was going to say get a falcon! Columbus has no pigeons downtown. Very effective!

Seriously, you could try mounting an owl decoy near the car. My dad hangs CDs from strings on his porch to keep birds away. In CA, I noticed the vineyards tied reflective ribbons to the grape vines to keep birds away.

AA wrote:

Seriously, you could try mounting an owl decoy near the car. My dad hangs CDs from strings on his porch to keep birds away. In CA, I noticed the vineyards tied reflective ribbons to the grape vines to keep birds away.

This is what I would say...some kind of reflective material/ribbon or tinsle that would destract the bird everytime it flapped in the wind. Seems to work on crops here. Not sure where you would mount it though.

deekster_caddy wrote:

I can't believe they re-made that movie. Really.

Remaking a Hitchcock film is never a good idea.

Either a fake owl or a rubber snake should keep the birds away. We have several in our hangars and around our aircraft. Works very well.

Benefit of rubber snake is you can keep it in the car when you travel. Just coil it around the mirror when you leave the car, lol.

but a stuffed owl on it...

I think Shintsu is commanding the birds to peck the hell outta Jacks car. I'm just gonna put that out there..

I'd stick a vinyl of a nice well done turkey in the mirrors for them to see next time

Just go to a taxidermist and get a big stuffed hawk. Mount it on your hood as an orniment and you will never have pesky bird problems again. Just imagine all the stares and you'll receive then! What a good conversation starter...

AA wrote:

Nice! We need one with Deer horns for the rednecks too!

Kill them ALL!!!!

Birds SUCK.

I washed and waxed both cars and the next day, covered. It looked like a friggin Dalmation. Out with the hose.

And when they eat the berries. Holy Hell, it sticks, stains, and kills the paint.

People think I'm insane but I was ready to go buy a car cover specifically to put over the car every night. Car guys get me.

Hey, when my car was parked before I could drive I put a cover over it. Way too many leaves and stuff everywhere and I wanted to keep all that nasty bird crap and dust off it (made taking it out a lot easier). One thing to note though, parking the car at an angle for a long period of time without starting it (several weeks) isn't too nice when you start it. I thought I messed something up because there was a burning smell and lots of smoke everywhere but it cleared up after it idled for about 5 minutes. Scared me though!

I never liked the trouble involved with putting on and taking off a car cover but you could always try that...

Am I hearing this advice from the guy who traded his Riv because it was all scratched up by a car cover?

Of course my Riv is already scratched up by a car cover, which is why I'll never put a cover on a car that isn't garaged again.

However, I have now got plans to get a garage, and that will be the end of a lot of problems. Cars have no business being outside, except for playtime.

Still have the Riv, didn't you read the thread Corey made that I posted back in? It was scratched up before it ever went under the cover btw.