I'm having a problem keeping cormorants off the masthead and spreaders. Any suggestions?
Tom Wood responds:
Your question brought back many unfond memories of our feathered friends. Over the years we have struggled with seagulls, crows, and starlings, etc. One particularly virulent outbreak unhappily coincided with the ripening of some very juicy red and purple berries—the resulting deck stains were incredibly tenacious.
Worse still are the large, heavy-bodied birds like herons, cormorants, anhingas, and pelicans. Not only do they leave larger messes on deck, including surprisingly large bones, but their size and weight almost guarantees damage to Windexes or other masthead gear. The birds native to city marinas have been so bold as to perch on rails, lifelines, and bimini top while we were sitting in the cockpit.
Over the years we have tried almost everything shy of a shotgun. Plastic owls were the rage at one point, followed by impressive rubber serpents. In our case, these relatively expensive and un-sailorly additions to our rig simply gave the birds a new place to roost. I have also seen large yellow balloons with massive eyeballs painted on all four sides waving in the rigging, but I cannot comment on their success rate. We have known sailors to mount nails and spikes at the masthead, lay down sticky or rough surfaces on the tops of spreaders, and lace multiple lines just above the spreaders.
When the problem was particularly severe one year, we hoisted strings of the cheap plastic pennants favored by used-car lots up the stays to the masthead and over the tops of the spreaders. The flapping and colors did keep most of the birds away, although one brave crow was undaunted, taking out yet another Windex. But the noise in a strong breeze also discouraged conversation or sleep on board, and in a late-afternoon thunderstorm the flags departed their mooring string, strewing non-environmentally friendly bits of plastic sheet all over the waterfront.
After all these years, we have arrived at a point where what we can recommend is a good bird-identification book, a pair of binoculars, and a new appreciation of our feathered friends. Oh, and a good scrub brush too.
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