[TowerTalk] Birds n towers

[jcjacobsen at q.com]

I'd go with eliminating the food source, if there is one. You can't scare them away. 
Years ago, where I grew up, there was a problem with starlings roosting in trees on one block. Talk about a racket!! Someone came up with a solution: 

Let's have the Police Dept get a case of bird shot for the 12 ga. shotguns. Then, one evening at the appointed hour, they assembled all the squads AND the fire rigs on the block. The "fired up" all the sirens and the shotguns were fired in the air, but not at the birds, until they were out of ammo. "We'll just scare 'em away with noise" Naturally, the birds all took off. Everyone patted themselves on the back, packed up, and left. If I remember correctly, the last squad had barely rounded the corner and the birds started coming back. 

Now on the other hand, at work we had a tower and a massive LPDA on the roof for HF emergency comms. A hawk decided to use it as a vantage point to look over the surrounding acreage. Never had a problem with other kinds of birds roosting on the antenna. Must have been because the hawk was real and not plastic. <GRIN> 

Don't mess with Mother Nature. 

73 
K9WN Jake