Author Topic: Noisy night birds...  (Read 11856 times)

bigchrisb

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Noisy night birds...
« on: October 18, 2014, 06:55:38 PM »
Ok, so don't laugh.  I've got a problem with a noisy night bird that has set itself up outside my bedroom window.  I'm a big fan of wildlife.  However, this crazy little bird (a willy wagtail for those in Australia) has some rather annoying nocturnal habits.  He starts singing his lungs out starting at about 10:30pm, and continues through until dawn.  For the last couple of months, its resulted in my partner or myself being woken several times a night - which isn't doing us much good!

Things I've tried to dissuade it / live with  it:

- Putting some owl statues in the trees.  It now uses these as a perch.
- Shaking the tree when it starts singing.  Quietens it for about 10 mins, but then its back to it.
- Using a bright set of LEDs to shine at it when it starts singing.  This worked for a couple of nights, but now its used to them.
- Double glazing the bedroom window.  This worked well during winter when I keep the windows closed, but coming into summer, its too hot with the windows closed.  I refuse to close the window and turn on an air conditioner because of a bird.

Short of getting myself an outside night cat, any suggestions for me? 

philby85

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2014, 07:15:30 PM »
tried catching it and taking it for a 2 hour drive to a new home?

MikeBear

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #2 on: October 18, 2014, 07:28:46 PM »
Paintball gun.

Hit him once, and he won't come back very soon. I've done this with cranes that try to eat all the koi in my front yard pond. They never come back at all anymore, and it been a couple years now.

big_owl

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #3 on: October 18, 2014, 07:48:32 PM »
Yeah, skip the paintball gun.  Most birds don't live that long in the wild, especially smaller ones.  It'll be gone soon enough.  Just deal with it for a while.

tccoastguard

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2014, 08:38:32 PM »
+1 for the paintball gun. Make a night of finding and popping the sucker. It'll survive just fine if you hit it with a cheap one and will think twice. Or you could do the same with a hose and tight stream of water.

Primm

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #5 on: October 18, 2014, 08:47:50 PM »
Paintball gun? Seriously? Have you guys ever been paint balling, and do you know how small a willy wagtail is? A direct hit from that sucker will kill the poor little bugger!

I have no suggestions, sorry. I feel your pain though, we have curlews up here that breed (with their consequent mating call) at 2am.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZWHUU41gsk

Jacana

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #6 on: October 18, 2014, 09:06:33 PM »
White noise generator or loud fan? Try simplynoise.com, it's great.

Breeding season ends in December/January, so cheer up, hopefully he'll be gone soon! After they leave, try to find the old nest and remove it so they don't move right back in next year. You can also try placing fake snakes in the tree instead of owls (more likely predator of their offspring), or putting up some mirrors so they think another pair has already moved in.

marty998

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #7 on: October 19, 2014, 06:48:04 AM »
Yep, you need to find a lady wagtail for him.

That, or cut the tree down.

deborah

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #8 on: October 19, 2014, 01:40:45 PM »
No appreciation for the Australian Nightingale! Wagtails are very territorial and aggressive - known to chase wedge tailed eagles (gosh, a wedgie could eat a wagtail in one gulp). They seem to sing on the highest point they can find (in your case a tree). Can you put a higher tree substitute somewhere else on your property?

bigchrisb

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #9 on: October 19, 2014, 04:55:42 PM »
No appreciation for the Australian Nightingale! Wagtails are very territorial and aggressive - known to chase wedge tailed eagles (gosh, a wedgie could eat a wagtail in one gulp). They seem to sing on the highest point they can find (in your case a tree). Can you put a higher tree substitute somewhere else on your property?

Not wrong about the aggression - over the weekend I've seen it take on magpies, currawongs and kookaburras.  It didn't come off second best to any of these! 

I might try the mirror idea.  The tree its in is tall enough that putting a substitute in probably isnt' practical

Jacana

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #10 on: October 19, 2014, 07:04:45 PM »
It's probably too late this season for the mirror trick. It seems he has already established this as his territory  (based on attacking other birds and whatnot) so he'll probably just continuously attack the mirror this year rather than leave. But if you put it up before the next breeding season, it will chase him away before he re-establishes himself. Hopefully.

bigchrisb

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #11 on: October 19, 2014, 08:04:43 PM »
It's probably too late this season for the mirror trick. It seems he has already established this as his territory  (based on attacking other birds and whatnot) so he'll probably just continuously attack the mirror this year rather than leave. But if you put it up before the next breeding season, it will chase him away before he re-establishes himself. Hopefully.

If he spends all day attacking himself in the mirror, hopefully he is all tuckered out and sleeps all night...

deborah

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #12 on: October 19, 2014, 10:17:02 PM »
Actually, I've just been thinking about this - it's actually outside your bathroom window - not your bedroom window. Can you soundproof the door to the bathroom and keep it shut?

stripey

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #13 on: October 19, 2014, 10:50:57 PM »
I've had them connect to my head and draw blood. There are two nests on my quarter acre block, and both are extremely territorial and aggressive (until their fledgelings fly away, that is).

Besides just not being a cool thing to do, I doubt you'll be able to hit a Willie Wagtail with a paint gun. They are exceedingly agile mid-flight.

No practical solutions except I hope you can learn to ignore them at night (that's what I've done)

HappierAtHome

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #14 on: October 19, 2014, 10:58:20 PM »
I've had them connect to my head and draw blood.

Same! Never been swooped by a magpie, but I instinctively duck / cover my head when I see flying birds now, thanks to some super aggressive willy wagtails that used to follow me down the street.

MsRichLife

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #15 on: October 19, 2014, 11:15:38 PM »
My only suggestion is ear plugs and white noise until nesting season is over. It's what we had to resort to in the US when some Mockingbirds set up camp outside our bedroom window.

Or...get to love the sound of birds in the middle of the night (Stockholm syndrome?)

bigchrisb

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #16 on: October 19, 2014, 11:30:06 PM »
Actually, I've just been thinking about this - it's actually outside your bathroom window - not your bedroom window. Can you soundproof the door to the bathroom and keep it shut?

Nope, its the bedroom side of the house.

stripey

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #17 on: October 20, 2014, 01:33:23 AM »
I've had them connect to my head and draw blood.

Same! Never been swooped by a magpie, but I instinctively duck / cover my head when I see flying birds now, thanks to some super aggressive willy wagtails that used to follow me down the street.

I think it's impressive that a 30g bird can instil such fear into the hearts of it's perceived foes.

AllChoptUp

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #18 on: October 20, 2014, 07:10:34 AM »
I like the water hose suggestion - nonlethal, annoying to bird, maybe even fun for you!

bigchrisb

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #19 on: October 27, 2014, 11:40:03 PM »
Thought I should give an update...

I've put up a few mirror panes outside.  Its dis-interested in these at best.

My non-lethal attempts at discouraging it have not been very effective - its a very small/fast target for a hose!

I borrowed a cat for a couple of days.  After some initial interest from both sides, they bird and cat now just ignore each other

Have pretty much run out of non-lethal alternatives - I'm tempted to set a couple of mouse-traps on its favorite perches...  Not sure that Stockholm syndrome will kick in for this one!




happy

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #20 on: October 28, 2014, 04:25:33 AM »
I'm afraid my only suggestion is that eventually you will get used to it and to try to chill out about it - i.e. the more attention you pay to it the worse it gets. In my girl v beast battles, where I don't actually want to harm the wildlife, I usually lose.

You reminded me of the bleating tree frogs that lived outside my bedroom window:  they started the night we moved in -something no amount of vigilant home inspection picks up - a loud noise like a bleating goat or a raucous bird. WTF? The Australian museum says "painfully loud and high-pitched". Kept me awake for a few months then I got used to the noise but still didn't know what it was until they bred in a kiddies wading pool we put up one hot October long weekend then forgot about. Hundreds of tadpoles…and in the process of identifying them discovered we had Litoria Dentata aka Bleating Tree frog.  After that we used to provide a water pool every year for them to breed in.  I put it in a few different places, but the only one they used was outside my bedroom window…..

These days when the tall gums blossom once a year the flying foxes move in and man they are noisy - they squabble all night.  After the blossom goes they move on…but usually I have poor sleep for a couple of months until they go.

I'm now completely immune to possums running the roof, I know they do it, but it no longer wakes me.

VirginiaBob

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #21 on: October 28, 2014, 07:03:26 AM »
Antifreeze in the bird feeder?  I hear it works for the neighbor's cats also.

Josiecat

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #22 on: October 28, 2014, 07:42:24 PM »
These would serve two purposes 1) more insulation to help save money and 2) supposed to help keep outside noises out.

http://www.windowinserts.com/

stripey

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #23 on: October 29, 2014, 01:09:40 AM »
I hope nobody is seriously suggesting antifreeze. Renal failure is a pretty horrendous way to die.

VirginiaBob

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #24 on: October 29, 2014, 05:19:35 AM »
I hope nobody is seriously suggesting antifreeze. Renal failure is a pretty horrendous way to die.

Sadly, antifreeze is in a lot of the foods that people eat:

http://www.eatit2beatit.com/foods-with-antifreeze-propylene-glycol/

Primm

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #25 on: October 29, 2014, 05:32:52 AM »
I hope nobody is seriously suggesting antifreeze. Renal failure is a pretty horrendous way to die.

Sadly, antifreeze is in a lot of the foods that people eat:

http://www.eatit2beatit.com/foods-with-antifreeze-propylene-glycol/

Ethylene glycol is antifreeze. It's toxic. Propylene glycol is not as effective an antifreeze, and it's not toxic.

And that's from the link you posted, without even researching further. Deadly nightshade will kill you, it's cousin, the humble red tomato, won't.  The active ingredient in antifreeze - ethylene glycol - isn't in any foods that I could find. Can you?

VirginiaBob

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #26 on: October 29, 2014, 06:15:18 AM »
I hope nobody is seriously suggesting antifreeze. Renal failure is a pretty horrendous way to die.

Sadly, antifreeze is in a lot of the foods that people eat:

http://www.eatit2beatit.com/foods-with-antifreeze-propylene-glycol/

Ethylene glycol is antifreeze. It's toxic. Propylene glycol is not as effective an antifreeze, and it's not toxic.

And that's from the link you posted, without even researching further. Deadly nightshade will kill you, it's cousin, the humble red tomato, won't.  The active ingredient in antifreeze - ethylene glycol - isn't in any foods that I could find. Can you?

It really depends on the concentration of propylene glycol in foods.  They just had in the news this morning that although the United States deems Proplyene Glycol as non-toxic in certain concentrations, other countries are more restrictive (Sweden and Finland).  I guess it depends how much one trusts the FDA.  Also, it is shown to have more side-effects for children than adults.  Call me paranoid if you like, but I'm avoiding it, along with a lot of other chemical additives found in our foods.  I tend to buy ingredients rather than packaged food.
« Last Edit: October 29, 2014, 06:19:00 AM by VirginiaBob »

hodedofome

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #27 on: October 29, 2014, 11:34:28 AM »
We sleep with a fan like this http://www.walmart.com/ip/Holmes-Blizzard-3-Speed-Oscillating-Table-Fan/14321324

and it's super loud (but not annoyingly so). We never hear anything. None of the dogs around us, nothing. Well, except for the backyard neighbors that sometimes throw parties with loud bass music. You can feel the base, not hear it.

If that doesn't work, I won't judge you if you use brute force. If a dude was doing that outside your window every night, nobody would think bad of you if you did him some physical harm one day. If a bird won't take the hint, then he may have to take the hit.

deborah

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Re: Noisy night birds...
« Reply #28 on: October 29, 2014, 04:52:22 PM »
A birder friend of mine has suggested you could try getting a rubber snake and hanging that up there, but it may just inspire the bird to mob it and thus make even more noise!  Basically he thinks waiting for the bird to breed will it settle down is about the only answer.  (Taking a sleeping pill may help resolve the situation also.)