I apologize if this is a common problem posted here, but I have to do something about the grackles in the tree in my front yard.

There is bird poop EVERYWHERE. It is all over my house, windows, car, driveway, grass, the street....everywhere.

They are loud, ugly, disgusting, obnoxious birds.

I've been reading about them, and it seems they are voracious eaters and scavengers. There is no food like bird feeders in my yard, so I have no idea why they love my trees so much.

Please advise if you know how to kill/get rid of these disgusting birds.

Yes, I know they're protected by the government. I still want them out of my yard.

tia

Try getting some owl decoys and putting in your trees. It should scare them off.

This is a question you may want to reconsider asking the OB for recommendations. Unless you have an armory.

I don't know the species of trees you have, but they love Live oaks and Bradford pears. If you like pruning your trees to where they look like mushroom tress, they like that even more.---In other words, in most urban areas we create wonderful grackle habitat (especially around shopping centers).

In the evening, you have about a 5 minute window of them circling before they (as a group) settle in. Take a water hose and as they come into roost, hit them with the water. Once just a few settle in, you are screwed for the night. Also look at the Scarecrow water sprinkler. They don't like that thing.

If you get an owl decoy, get one with a moving bobblehead.

Also, I've heard of folks that have luck with putting spotlights in their trees that point straight up.

Blow up a plastic grocery bag and pop it outside. They will usually fly away and take over some other tree. If they resettle too close, pop it again and they'll move to the next block.

shotgun

5 12 year olds... pellet guns ... unlimited ammo.

I've often said that we could rid ourselves of the grackle/starling problems with that method.

+1 for Sean

quote:

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5 12 year olds... pellet guns ... unlimited ammo.

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I used to get a quarter from my Dad for every confirmed kill.

i use sean's idea. but it seems like i cant kill enough of them. they have screwed my gutters completely with all the nests

I agree with Sean's idea also. There is no way that 5 12 y/o couldn't kill them out, or at least harass them to the point where they wouldn't come back.





Think. Feel. Be.

Pull out all the trees and shrubs and concrete the whole yard.

No birds, squirrels, racoons, armadillos, snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, turtles, etc. Just you.

Blow gun

Mouse Trap with dog food as bait.

Trap thrower with a heavy spring, long rope, tennis racket attached, and dog food as bait.

remington 1100

Since they are protected you'll have to figure it out for yourself and of course follow all applicable laws. If you were searching for options to deal with a pest that was not protected Google might yield useful results.

I can't for the life of me understand why an introduced invasive species is protected (if it truly is). Boggles the mind.....

yep growing up as a kid i used to love shooting the grackles out of the trees with my pellet gun

ya why the hell are grackles protected?

what the dinosaur said

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Grackles are native, European starlings are not.

DDP


[This message has been edited by Ags20-10_'75 (edited 6/18/2009 12:27p).]

btw the noise makers only work so well. ask anyone on northgate. just start killing them.

bb or pellet gun. They would do the same to you.

Does anyone know about making a paste of say 1/4 cup of rat poison with roughly equal parts of water and then mixing it with an equal volume of bird seed?

Sounds like a rather indiscriminate method, but it might be effective. Just keep your pets (if any) away from it...

And would run the risk of being illegal. With the way that stuff kills, trust me, it would freak people out and there would be plenty of attention.

The way I mentioned earlier works pretty well.

[This message has been edited by ursusguy (edited 6/18/2009 4:46p).]

quote:

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5 12 year olds... pellet guns ... unlimited ammo.

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this.

Might want to reconsider the poison route. They shut down Congress Avenue in Austin for almost 8 hours on a weekday a few years ago because a few starlings were found dead on the street.

The locals brought out the haz mat crews in moon suits and even an unmarked black step van (kin to the black helicopters) staffed by 5th Army soldiers. This was back during the Avian flu scare.

All it would take would be some nervous Nelly calling out the troops cause they found a dead bird or two or 20.

(On a side note there was some great video of downtown Austin looking like a ghost town after it was cordoned off. Then a stray cat ran out of an alley, picked up one of the dead birds, and made a run for it. In the background you can hear the cops going "Shoot it-shoot it!) but luckily no gun play was involved to protect society from the plague)

EDIT: for spelling

[This message has been edited by Aggiefan54 (edited 6/18/2009 6:47p).]

Try this I have seen it used in the rafters of indoor arenas and worked great.

http://www.pestproducts.com/birdx/BXbirdproof.htm

Thanks to all of you, especially AggieCowboy.

Entertaining answers.

I prefer to shoot them with my Benjamin .22 cal pellet gun. They are very protective of their own. If you shoot a female during this time of year they freak out. They fly away at first and then they will fly back in with a noticable different squawking. Shoot those too. I did this until I got five. Left them laying for about an hour. Grackles left the yard for about four days. Then they came back.

Years ago, dad shot a male and it did not die immediately. It could not hop away and just squawked and flopped for about 10 minutes. The others freaked out and left when it died. No more grackles for months after that.

Wound them badlly and let them lay.