How to Scare Away Birds

Updated on April 25, 2012
S.R. asks from Milwaukee, WI
13 answers

We have a very long and tall row of bushes right next to the bedroom windows full of birds. The neighbors have feeders all over their yard (even infront of their front window which is near the bushes. I have seeen balloons with eyes and snakes and reflecgive tape and cds for gardens but what about for the bushes? I had an owl but that didn't work. Every morning at 5am they start up and it sounds like hundreds of them. What can I do?

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A.G.

answers from Houston on

You can do what Julia Robert's father did in Steel Magnolias, where he loaded up about 3 feet round of fireworks and shot them in the tree to get rid of the birds on Shelby's wedding day. lol sorry, no constructive advice here...

2 moms found this helpful

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B.C.

answers from Los Angeles on

I can understand your neighbors wanting to attract the "pretty birds". I can also understand not wanting to be woken up by the birds.

I would go a talk to your neighbors and ask them to move the feeder away from this one window and explain to them very nicely that you would really like to sleep in.

If you lived next to me, If you were nice and asked nice, I'd move the feeder. If you were unfriendly and "ordered" me to move my feeder, I'd likely be very uncooperative.

As a last resort, you can put a sprinkler pointing along the top of the bushes and turn it on with a motion dector so it comes on when the birds arrive and turns off when they leave. Don't set the sprinkler up to spray into your neighbor's yard.

Good luck to you and yours.

4 moms found this helpful

J.W.

answers from St. Louis on

So your neighbor is attracting them and you don't want them. Sorry but this is funny as hell.

The only thing I have is ask your neighbors to move their feeders away from the bushes. Everything I have read so far isn't going to work if they are there eating.

If that doesn't work take out the bushes.

3 moms found this helpful
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K.B.

answers from Detroit on

We had a problem once when hundreds of crows decided to roost for the night in the large trees around our house. After 3 mornings in a row of waking up to our yard and cars getting totally bombed by bird poo, my husband shot off a bunch of bottle rockets into the trees at night after the crows had returned. Problem solved.

2 moms found this helpful

F.H.

answers from Phoenix on

Get an outside cat. =)

2 moms found this helpful

S.T.

answers from Washington DC on

even without the feeders those thick bushes attract birds because they're such good cover.
i've seen a crow perch on our owl<G>.
no easy solutions.
cat. sprinkler. take down the bushes.
please don't shoot them. songbirds are a vanishing resource, and valuable even if sometimes a nuisance.
khairete
S.

1 mom found this helpful

A.C.

answers from Sarasota on

Can you take down the bushes? That would be my choice. If you want a barrier you could plant bamboo or put up one of those iron screens ivy can climb.

1 mom found this helpful
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M.M.

answers from Washington DC on

Are they nesting?
Destroy the nests or move them.

We put dog hair around the garden to keep deer away.
A movement sensor works too

Is it starlings? Starlings are a menace.

1 mom found this helpful
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M..

answers from Youngstown on

You can buy an owl that has batteries, everytime it senses movement it will 'hoot'. This worked for us when we had woodpeckers trying to peck holes in our garage. Or you can place feeders of your own away from the bushes. Maybe that will draw them to the feeders instead of the bushes? Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful
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L.D.

answers from Minneapolis on

Heeerrrree kitty kitty kitty! :)

Just kidding.

Try earplugs. You can still hear the really important noises (such as screaming) through them. But they block out bird calls nicely.

1 mom found this helpful
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H.M.

answers from Omaha on

Might just make a different problem but I'd start putting out cat food as to encourage the feral cats to hang around. My mother lets her cat outside when she's with her on the patio. She has pry 20 different feeders in her yard and not a single bird comes when the cat is out.

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S.R.

answers from Washington DC on

Have you tried putting fake birds there? (kind of a scarecrow concept)

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M.R.

answers from Seattle on

BB gun - and start practicing your aim

They sell bio-degradable BB pellets too.

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