Thought I would try and repay all the info I've learned by hanging around. Here is my attempt at stopping our feathered friends from landing on the rain gauge.
Received a new Atlas on Fathers day to replace my old Iris. Here are a couple pictures of it installed with my attempt to keep the birds from using the rain gauge as their personal toilet. We will see how well it works.
Construction was pretty straight forward. 2 1/2" strips cut from a 4x10" K&S copper metal plate from Hobby Lobby. and 3" spikes made from 1/16" copper rod. Pack of 5 also from Hobby Lobby. Cut the strips, bend around the top of the rain gauge (use masking tape to protect the solar cells) Overlap and solder the ends. Do NOT solder while bent around the rain gauge. IT WILL melt! Move it to your work table! Space the 3" spikes about every 1.25" and solder to the strip.
Use UV resistant hot glue to glue the Bird spike strip to the rain gauge.
All soldering was done with a 140 watt Weller gun. It did it, but took some time and a lot of heat. Small torch may be better. YMMV