Topic: Birds on the anemometer

[dalecoy]

2.  Accept the situation - that's the NOAA solution.

Ha, is that seriously listed as one of their solutions?  What about when the droppings pile up enough that it slows down the spinning cups?

As far as I know, NOAA is silent on how to keep birds away - they do, of course, discuss cleaning, maintenance, etc.  But in my experience, they do not take any measures at all to keep birds away from their anemometers.

However, if someone else has observed a NOAA station with bird-preventive measures, I'd be happy to hear about it.

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[LABob]

I wanted to take them out with a pellet gun, but my wife shot that down real quick (pun intended).
So I am forced to find a more humane option

Doesn't work anyway. You just make room for other birds that would have starved for lack of food to fill the niche, and temporary lower survival prompts additional breeding. The only way it works is to extirpate birds locally, a difficult proposition (and a lot of work). Easier just to lure them away with a better, higher perch and/or food.

I had an owl try to land on mine and he just made the anny twist on the mount so it was sideways. That was fun since it's a scramble across a Spanish tile roof on the second story to get to it.

[Bashy]

The only way i have managed to keep them off my Davis was to mount the OS anny above it, now then land on the OS and leave the Davis alone, i have tried many ideas including cable ties, i saw one pigeon land, it perched then winking at me giving it the ,,i,,

[stefanbagnato]

I swung by Home Depot and bought a 1/4" metal rod, which I bent into a shape much like the angle of the anemometer arm.  It will mount to my station pole, run roughly parallel just above the anemometer arm, then bend and run parallel above the wind vane.  My idea was to take extra bird spikes and attach them to the top.  However, soldering (dumb idea) and gluing/taping (even dumber) did not work.  I found some 12" plastic bird spike strips online, which I am waiting to arrive.  I will attach one of them to this rod, and I *think* it will fix my issue.  We'll find out this weekend hopefully.

[LABob]

I'm lazy, so I wouldn't want to go up there in a year or two and replace the plastic spikes. I'd get some small gauge metal wire and twist it around the metal rod to make spikes (sort of like barbed wire).

[dalecoy]

  We'll find out this weekend hopefully.

Please let us know how it works - and then come back in a few months and update the status.

[stefanbagnato]

I'm lazy, so I wouldn't want to go up there in a year or two and replace the plastic spikes. I'd get some small gauge metal wire and twist it around the metal rod to make spikes (sort of like barbed wire).

Supposedly they last several years.  Although, it came with 12, so I will replace it as many times as needed.  Luckily an adjustable ladder gets me up to mine, as it is only about 10 feet up in the middle of the lawn.

[Hello]

Someone needs to design an anemometer that stays @ 500ºF. Or delivers thousands of volts upon contact. Problem solved.

[Mattk]

Ultrasonic, bird problem solved

[dalecoy]

Ultrasonic, bird problem solved

Result: howling dogs because their ears hurt.  Not solved.

[dupreezd]

Ultrasonic, bird problem solved

And the bats are all messed up. 

[stefanbagnato]

Slightly delayed with my response here.

Winter weather in NC can be up and down.  It'll be cold and windy, then warm and rainy, then snow, ect.

It was finally nice enough to install the bird spikes last weekend.

I took a metal rod and bent it to form the shape of the anemometer arm, and attached a set of spikes to the top so that it sits just above the anemometer itself without affecting anything.

So far, no birds on it.

 

The day I installed it was overcast, so the spikes actually blend in pretty well with the sky making it tough to see in the pictures a bit.

 



 

[SpHwk]

I am having the same issue with birds.  FWIW the bird feeder idea is not going to fly...  I have four feeders about 120' away from my mast.  The bluebirds in particular still love to land on top of it.  I have thought about running a windshield washer squirter to startle them, but it would have to be operated manually.  A motion detector would not work for obvious reasons, and the trouble of a manual remote is impractical.

After posting this I see there were quite a few responses that did not load when I originally looked at this.  So this is in reference to older posts...