Will an owl decoy keep birds away? Let’s go into the details of using these deterrents as bird scarers
One of the best and natural ways to keep birds away is by using decoy owls. These are made to look like the real deal and even have recorded sounds that are scary to birds.
What more, decoy owls look even more menacing from their movements.
Here, we’ll be discussing all decoy owl scare for birds.
How Effective Are Owl Decoys?
There is no questioning the fact that decoy birds have the desired effect on birds. Over the years, there have been improvements to make them much more effective in keeping birds away. These are made to look so real in addition to pre-recorded predator noise including movements.
So far, there have been lots of positive reviews from people who have installed these around their property.
They speak of a marked improvement of their bird situation as there’s a noticeable drop in the number of birds that frequent or hang around their property.
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Other Schools of Thought
When it comes to how effective owl decoys are, not everyone has the same answer. This is understandable due to many reasons. The word efficient can be relative too! What works for person A might be considered unacceptable by person B.
Because of these reasons, some persons tout bird harassment as the best method to scare away birds. This method (harassment) has been (and still is) deployed in places like airports with impressive results. It is believed that when birds are harassed in a certain location, it serves as a form of training.
Training in the sense that they find such locations unwelcoming to build their nests. Hence the need to find other less “troublesome” locations. For this school of tough, the use of decoy owl scare for birds is out of the question.
Yet…
Another school of thought thinks using decoy owl scare for birds might only succeed in scaring off real owls which might be helpful. If real owls are present, how then do other birds hang around? This can be quite confusing and a topic for debate. Nevertheless, it is a strong belief held by a significant section of property owners.
Whatever the belief is, we aren’t dwelling on what works or doesn’t.
In other words, our interest isn’t to compare, rather, we seek to discuss or dwell on decoy owl scares for birds. We hope this will be an educative and interesting read.
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The Downside
While studies and reviews have shown that decoy owl scare for birds works, it sadly won’t last long. In other words, birds are quite curious and will eventually come around to the fact that these owls pose no harm. It has been observed that birds such as pigeons get too comfortable around decoy owls in as little as 4 days.
Luckily, not every bird gets to figure out fast enough. The Black-Capped Chickadee is among those who don’t get to the bottom of this deception fast enough. Therefore, the type of bird around your property determines how effective a decoy owl scare becomes. Are there ways to enhance the effects and time duration decoy owls have on birds?
There are, however, these solutions are temporary. It requires additional measures to be adopted to keep birds at bay.
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Additional Ways To Make Fake Owl Scare More Effective
When we talk about being more effective, we are referring to a more scary decoy owl. This is needed to add to the confusion of birds which makes them avoid your vicinity altogether. Since pigeons are known to be clever and get too comfortable around decoy owls in a couple of days, some spikes might do the trick.
Observation of their behavior will reveal surfaces most frequented by these pigeons. Install some spikes around those areas. Such spikes, coupled with decoy owls make your surroundings less inviting for not only pigeons but other birds too.
For decoy owl scares to be more effective, their positioning will need to be changed after a few days. Leaving these unchanged won’t give the desired results. Birds easily find notice how harmless these seemingly scary owl scares are. Changing positions helps retain their element of surprise.
You want to find areas similar to their natural habitats to place your decoy owl scares. In other words, owl scares don’t just hang around in the open. Rather, these bird predators are more discrete and would hide on treetops or similar locations. That way, the decoy looks more genuine and has the desired impact on birds.
Adding some noise can be of help. Although there are decoy owl scares that come with this feature, adding other noise forms made at interval helps achieve the desired impact. Birds would hardly want to hang around such areas as there is heightened confusion which signifies danger.
Some ribbons and old CDs help heighten the illusion of danger for birds. These give off scary sounds in addition to reflections. Hang these on treetops as well as eaves. You should notice a marked improvement with your decoy owl.
Types Of Decoy Owl Scares
There are lots and lots of decoy owl scares for birds available for purchase. These come in different brands with varied characteristics. Some of the best products come with pre-recorded owl sounds plus those of other bird predators.
A lot of these also have moving parts that trick birds into thinking they are real.
Parts that are likely to move include flashing eyes heads turning 360 degrees as well as wing movements that mimic real owl movements. Some decoy owl bird scares are also built in such a way that makes them seem like an owl attacking a bird or prey.
Such products come with different names.
Some of the most popular ones include AMILIEe Owl Decoy 360 Rotate Head, Galashield Owl Decoy, Vensmiles Solar Fake Owl Decoy, and Ohuhu Solar Powered Horned Owl Decoy.
Others are Bird-X Prowler Owl Decoy, Bird Blinder Scarecrow Fake Owl, Tapix Owl Bird Repellent Reflective Holographic Bird Deterrent. Hanging Owl Decoy and Lijo Solar Powered Owl Animal Scarecrow.
More decoy owl scare for birds include Hausse 2 Pack Bird Scarecrow Fake Horned Owl Decoy, HOMESCAPE CREATIONS Owl Decoy, Fasmov Garden Protection, IdeaWorks JB7682 Decorative Led Motion Sensor Hooting Owl.
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What Are You Interested In?
It is important to know exactly what you want for your bird problems. By this, we mean the specific decoy owl scare features that fit your specific needs. While some people may be interested in getting decoy owl scares with pre-recorded sounds, others may opt for those without them or for moving decoy owls.
Still, others may prefer plastic owls with all or some of the other features. Whatever you need, there’s always something for you. Some of the decoy owls scare for birds we mentioned earlier were generalized.
Let’s now categorize such products under plastic owls for gardens, moving owl decoys and owl decoys with sound;
i. Plastic Owl Decoys For Gardens
Plastic owl decoys are quite popular with gardeners. As such, lots of these products are designed for this purpose. A few examples include Gardeneer 784672887786 Dalen RHO4 Natural Enemy ScareCrow. Quite a mouthful right?
Well, the most important thing is the value you get right?
Others are the Ohuhu Solar Powered Horned Owl Decoy With Flashing Eyes. There’s also the AG Garden Owl Natural Enemy, the Bird-X Prowler Owl Decoy With Moving Wings, Yofit Solar Bird Scarecrow and JALOUSIE 12 Pack Bird Repellent.
ii. Moving Owl Decoys
Although this feature can be replicated in decoy owl scares for garden and those with sound, this section only focuses on moving owl decoys. Since it came on board, virtually every manufacturer includes the moving feature as it enhances its effect in getting scaring birds away.
Popular moving owl decoy includes Vensmiles Solar Fake Owl Decoy Bird Repellent, AMILIEe Owl Decoy 360 Rotate, and GIFT EXPRESS 16.5″ Scare Crow Decoy Owl Statue. Other moving owl decoys include ASTRAEUS Owl Light Decoy Solar and Premium Bird Repellent Fake Owl.
iii. Owl Decoys With Sound
There is never a short supply of owl decoys with sound. Most products come with this feature. Some of these allow the user to either switch or put off the sound. A good number of those previously mentioned have this feature. However in getting more specific, these include;
BRITENWAY Large Scarecrow Owl Decoy Realistic Statue, EudoER Fake Owl Decoy, Lijo Solar Powered Owl Animal Scarecrow and Galashield Owl Decoy among many others.
There’s an almost inexhaustible list of decoy owl scare for birds available. Plus, more are being developed win additional innovations meant to increase its impact. Finding one for your garden or home shouldn’t be difficult.
However, it is important to get some reviews about some of the best decoy owl scares.
Doing that helps narrow down the most effective product at least for your needs. Try to find out what other users are saying about this product. It gives you an idea of what to expect when you buy them. Fixing your decoy owl scare shouldn’t be a complex. If it is, you might want to change products.
A good decoy owl scare should be easy to fix and remove.
This article has established several things. First, that decoy owl scare for birds work. However, some contest this fact and rightly so due to the short time-frame in which such scares remain effective. Nevertheless, we’ve been able to provide additional ways to make your decoy owl scare more effective.
We’ve also listed some of the most popular products and have gone further to categorize them by sound, movements and those for gardens.