flying rats

[southwindphoto]

Ok.. I need some advice.

I visited my boat today, and found that some flying rats aka seagulls had visited and where not nice guest. Long story short, took me over an hour to clean up there mess.. My boat is currently moored, in the City of St Augustine new mooring field, so it’s not like we have a real winter that will get the birds to leave, and water for cleaning is not plentiful.


So my question to you experience Captains, is what can I do to keep them off my boat?

[Hartley18]

You've plenty of cleaning water... Your boat is sitting in it!!

Originally Posted by southwindphoto

So my question to you experience Captains, is what can I do to keep them off my boat?

I've heard shotgun blasts at regular intervals works well...

[otisgudlyfe]

try a plastic owl or hawk (you can get them from garden supply houses). If that doesn't work, try a real owl or hawk
I've also seen people successfully use plastic snakes to keep the dump ducks off their boats.

[swadiver]

I have seen people in my area hang old CD's from string at various locatations around the boat. It seems to work.

[sailor50]

Unfortunately whatever streamers you fly from the rigging, wont deter them from landing at the mast head, I think Davis was right on adding an anti bird spike to the Windex 15".

Birds are clever, don't always roost in trees, leave berry stains on deck - but in the big picture, we need them.

[Hartley18]

Originally Posted by sailor50

Birds are clever, don't always roost in trees, leave berry stains on deck - but in the big picture, we need them.

Seagulls?!? You're kidding, right? We need Seagulls?!? Oh alright, I suppose we do... Someone/something has to clean up after the tourists have finished their fish and chips..

Humming line doesn't seem to do much other than annony the neighbours - but I've heard that the plastic hawks work well.

[svHyLyte]

In St. Augustine you may actually have an Osprey rather then sea gulls but, in either case, they are a pain in the neck. FWIW I have never seen plastic owls or any of the like actually work (tho' others will no doubt disagree). For the mast head on trick is to hoist a gin pole that projects above your masthead instruments on a halyard, leaving it a bit slack so that it wobbles around in the wind. That makes it difficult for the birds to land. One can also run wire or monofiliment between the shrouds and the sides of the mast 6-8" above the spreaders which makes landing there impossible (although that doesn't seem to last too long).

FWIW...

[oceanscapt]

We've got parrots to add to the list, at least here in South Florida. Their psychedelic droppings make gull stains look mundane.

We've tried flying owls, ospreys, Chinese Kites, and fishing line but haven't found a passive solution. What does seem to work is a well calibrated pellet gun.

[LazylighningII]

I found the day time birds do not like moving bright light. So I string 10 to 15 old CD's or DVD's on a line from the fore stay to the mast and form the to the back stay. I hang them at different heights and make sure that kind a aimed to the rigging. I don't have much poop to deal with as compared to before I did this. I used this method on the mooring and while at a end tie.

[remetau]

I rescued a pelican one time from somebody's fishing line, and the pelican paid me back by constantly visiting us on our bow rail and sharing his meal with us. I swear that they poop concrete.