Expert: Julia Booth - 7/19/2009

Question
Hi,
May be you think it is silly to ask your opinion about the way I can keep the pigeons out of my balcony but I don't know what to do, I placed 2 plastic owls but they don't seem scary, the pigeons are around all the time and all my plants there are broken, the soil all over the floor and I barely can't use the balcony, I live on 3th floor in an apt. in Miami, Florida, please if you could give me some advise I will appreciate, I don't want to hurt them but I don't want them living and making their nests in my balcony. Thanks, I will wait for you.....

Answer
I love birds. But let's face it. Pigeons are rats with wings. A few in the park are nice. But 500 of them caking your balcony up with poop are not.

And one of the problems is that you live in Florida, which is second only to California as far as being the ideal environment for birds.

The owl decoy is really rather useless on pigeons, as they are not the natural prey of the owl. Those CAN work on some birds, but are mostly designed for rodent control.

There are a variety of repellants you could use. Some imply harm, or at least temporary discomfort to the birds in question, like mild electric shock.

www.hotfoot.com/gel-pd.html

www.pestproducts.com/birdx/BXbirdproof.htm

www.birdbarrier.com/

www.deterapigeon.com/faqs.htm

www.birdguard.com/

www.birdstoppers.com/

http://icwdm.org/handbook/birds/Pigeons.asp (explains how you can use naphthalene odor to repel pigeons, as they have a very strong sense of smell)

Let me know if this is enough info, or if you need more,


Julia