I've had a plastic owl perched on top of the mast for
about ten years now. Prior to putting the owl up, the
antennas at times would be covered almost entirely by
grackles, a large black bird that is very noisy and
produces a lot of droppings. Grackles send the letter
"J" at 40 dB over S9, which would instantly wake me up
in the morning. The grackles totally disappeared forever
after putting up the owl, so I conclude that the owl is
very effective against this species. I can still hear the
grackles living in nearby ficus trees, but they just don't
perch on the antennas any more.
On the other hand, the owl has proven totally ineffective
against other species, and a common sight is to see a pigeon
perched on the owl's head. I took a picture of this the
first few times it happened, but now it is old hat, so to
speak.
On a few occasions, at night, there have been real owls on the
antennas hooting up a storm. Perhaps they were trying to woo
the ice maiden? On one occasion, also after dark, a hawk was
flying figure eight patterns, centered on the plastic owl,
dipping and making loud screeching noises at it. This went on
for a good ten minutes, after which the hawk just flew away.
I guess these plastic owls, just like some of the human species,
look better in the dark.
Dave Hachadorian, K6LL
Yuma, AZ
K6LL@juno.com
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