Bird emergency - help, please!

[robrill]

Another bird story, but one that's gone to the extreme:

I went to my '86 30+ last night to find birds sitting on each side of both spreaders - and my deck, hardware, new sail cover and dodger liberally splattered with guano. As a matter of fact, my brand new blue sail cover was mostly white/brown, as was my not-so-new blue dodger. What made things more frustrating was that, of the 30-40 boats in the mooring field, mine was the only one to have appeared to have suffered this fate, and the surrounding boats looked clean and had no birds perched on them.

I had this happen several times at the very end of last season when the seagulls and cormorans chase the bluefish in the upper part of Narragansett Bay in RI, where I moor the boat. I'm tucked in a quiet harbor with the shore and shoal nearly surrounding the boat. Each time, I tried fastening mylar strips in various places, to no avail. Last year (unlike this year so far), I was not alone in getting splattered, though I do think I was the worst hit.

Just last Saturday, after seeing that the birds had arrived early this year, I put up an inflatable owl eye below the lower set of spreaders, with a mylar tail. The effect seems to have been negligible. I spent two hours that day cleaning the boat at the dock, and spent about the same amount of time last night at the mooring trying to get at least the bigger crud off.

I have no hard theory as to why my Ericson has been singled out. It has nothing to do, as far as I can tell, with sail cover/dodger color, boat condition, or even the location per se. Last night, though, I did start to build a theory: The only distinguishing factor I could see is that I had the tallest rig and I was the only boat in that end of the mooring field to have a double spreader setup.

I left the boat this morning after raising the owl eye to the top spreader on the masthead flag halyard and raising another flag to the lower spreader using the lower flag halyard. I'll bring my old sail cover this weekend and maybe take down the dodger. I have a fake owl I might bring as well. I've also asked for a mooring closer to the docks (which don't seem to get bird visits at all) or a slip, but the marina doesn't have any available at this time.

Sorry for the long note, but this is getting really frustrating and my beautiful boat - which I take great pride in keeping ship-shape - looks horrendous (at least prior to my two hours of cleaning each time, and the Sunbrella isn't recovering that well anymore either). I saw a small ad in Sailing for Trident Custom Marine Products for a "masthead + spreader guard" and I did see that one of my neighbors had what looked like a strip with spikes on his lone set of spreaders.

Any ideas?

- Desperate

 

[Geoff Johnson]

I don't have the problem because my mooring is fairly rocky, but on the North Shore of Long Island guano is a major problem. I have seen two solutions both of which appear to be successful: Monofilament fishing line from the mast to the shrouds at (bird) chest height; and multiple plastic electrical ties around each spreader with the ends left on and pointing skyward. The second solution is not as attractive as the first IMHO. Good luck.

 

[robrill]

I spoke with people the marina (which seemed to be at least a little bit pleased that my Ericson appeared to be keeping all the birds away from their other customers' boats) and one guy swore by rubber snakes. His theory was that birds expected owls to move, but a snake on the deck was worth staying away from. He said it worked for him

I ordered the radial spikes that go on the boom (via bungee cord) from BoatUS, while I will either go with filament or zip ties with the ends cut to a point for above the spreaders. Someone suggested using the flags you see at used car lots, but I don't think I'd do that at this point. I may get netting, though, to put over the boom and dodger, which is where most of the damage is.

This is starting to sound more and more like Caddyshack....

 

[Geoff Johnson]

On your dodger you could also try those whirlygigs you see on motor boats, the ones with the two long arms with vanes on the end to make them spin. I think I remember reading, maybe in Practical Sailor, that snakes and owls are about as useful as the Algae-X device for diesel fuel.

 

[Geoff Johnson]

This is from the Pracical Sailor web site, from its articles entitled "Bird Wars"

After the fake owl failed to work for Don
Thomas, he tried a more sophisticated owl
($18.99) with a motion sensor to initiate
“hooting” sounds and lights in the owl’s eyes.
Baught from Northern Tool & Equipment (800/
556-7885), Thomas cites poor results. “I have
to get my whole torso within 30 inches of the
thing to set it off,” he said. “This thing
wouldn’t react to a bird unless the bird fell
dead right in front of it!”

 

[JBlair]

Bird emergency

Also keeping my boat in the Narragansett bay I have been attacked every Aug/Sept. What has worked for me is to attach plastic ties to the spars (so they point up) and set 2 plastic owls - bow & stern. It seems like once they adopt your boat - you are history for that season - the trick is to to have them not select your boat then you are clear for the year!

This has worked for the past 2 years......

 

[robrill]

I've decided to go with the following:

1. Various rubber snakes left on the deck.
2. Zip ties (white or clear) to remain on the spreaders, with the ends cut to a point.
3. The repel-a-bird stainless steel wire arrangements that mount with a bungee cord on the boom.
4. Netting for over the dodger and cockpit. I thought of a tarp, but while netting is obviously porous, it's lighter than a tarp (easier to set up and remove) and said to discourage landings since it doesn't offer a flat surface.

When I'm gone, the boat may look a bit silly, but if it's clean when I get back, I can live with it.

Only the zip ties will show when I'm out on the boat. If it works I might consider a more permanent arrangement. I'm not crazy, though, about metal spikes that could potentially get caught up in the genoa.

My foredeck seems to get spared, which tells me that if I can get them off the spreaders, boom and dodger (which I might just roll up on its integrated frame and put it out of the away when I'm gone), I could reverse this trend. I guess I should have preserved the dodger before the sunbrella got so messed up, but it's a pain to have to play with the dodger each time I get to and leave the boat, making sure I don't crease the windows....

BTW, BoatUS seems to have the best collection of letters from similarly-situated boat owners:

http://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/birds/default.asp

 

[Landlocked Capn]

I'd almost be willing to trade you bird crap for spider dung. Quarter sized spiders living in the mast, in the bimini, everywhere you let them spin a web. If I'm not on my boat twice a week to kill those bahstahds, my wife will freak out on Saturday, that's for sure. Texas lake spiders. God I hate 'em....

On the other hand, we don't have bird problems...

 

[robrill]

Well, I just got back from a great night on my boat, made even more glorious by the fact that it was bird and bird poop free! I had put fishing line over the boom and zip ties on the spreaders, as well as a couple of long rubber snakes on the deck.

I get no pleasure in other people's misfortune, but it was quite a sight when I saw that many of the boats around me - which up until my latest measures had been bird-free - last night had birds sitting on their spreaders. I can't help but think that my marina's staff, which viewed the bird issue as purely my problem and which even suggested, presumably tongue-in-cheek, that I was doing a service by attracting all the birds (hah, hah - let them spend two hours each weekend cleaning their own boats) might find the problem to be theirs as well, now that a dozen other boat owners are in the same position I was.

Tweaks:

(1) Though the fishing line over the boom appeared to have worked, I wanted something that's easier to remove and replace when I get on/off the boat: I added two Repel-a-Bird contraptions. They're basically a dozen or so wires spreading out from a spindle that's bungeed onto the boom.

(2) In my rush to put the zip ties on, I realized this morning that I had fastened a dozen or so of the ties over the part of my flag halyard that runs along the underneath part of the starboard side of my lower spreaders. I'll have to cut the ties off and replace them to free the halyard. Now that I think I might have the Rosetta Stone for protecting my boat, though, I will feel more confident about the task.

(3) I moved the snakes around. I don't want the birds to think they're dead.

Thanks for the input, especially regarding the zip ties. I bought a package of 100 11-inch ones for under $7. Wish I'd done it sooner....

- Rob