Canada goose, 3 eggs slows down production on a $150 mil. luxury building in the UK

A security guard has been assigned to protect this Canada goose and her two eggs in a U.K. building. This little goose has held up work on a $150 million luxury building.

A funny things happen to living creatures every once in a while: they reproduce. Unfortunately for a British construction company, a goose decided to exert her right to reproduce on their production site.

A recent Aol News piece shed some light on the situation, saying that the goose got comfortable. There is even a 24-hour security guard standing watch to make sure she’s safe and sound.

While production on the building isn’t completely stalled — the contractor explains that they are working on a different area until the goose leaves — it’s definitely a hassle. What if this happened to your company? Comfortable geese looking for a nice spot to raise a family just plop down and stay a while? This could cost millions and the liability factor could tack on more to that. Every seen a slip-and-fall incident resulting from a bird droppings? It’s quite expensive.

The GooseBuster is designed specifically for the humane elimination of pesky geese.

Putting up a few sound devices is the best thing to do for this kind of problem. The Goose Buster emits high quality digital playbacks of goose distress and alarm calls recorded in natural environments. Since the sounds are in the geese’s own language, they get the message: STAY AWAY!

Got questions about your specific goose problem? Check out www.bird-x.com for more products, or call us up at 800-860-0473!

Bird-Plane collisions up 25%

A recent Associated Press discussed by the Riverfront Times report stated that nearly 10,000 bird strikes were reported last year, which is up considerably from the 7,507 reported in 2007. And that rise is only an average, with some states reporting an increase considerably higher than that.

In some states, such as Texas and Minnesota, the number of bird-plane collisions have doubled since 2005 thanks to an increase in air traffic along bird migratory routes.

…bird-plane collisions at Lambert-St. Louis International airport have increased nearly 300 percent over the past decade.

Hmmmm…maybe these airports need to try Bird-X’s new Airport Bird Control System.

The airport bird and wildlife control system is perfect for this time of year when birds and other animals start heading to their spring and summer spots.

This system is made up of three of Bird-X’s best sound devices and one sensory spray: the Megablaster, the Goosebuster, the Critterblaster and Goosechase. The combination of the four of these makes it almost impossible for birds to get comfortable anywhere around an airport.

Terror Eyes successfully keeps geese away

A 5/5 Star product review.

It worked great for me. Had it for about a year and no geese. Then it blew off in a storm and the geese are back. I’m buying another!

By J. Knight from Virginia

View the Terror-Eyes bird scare eyes here.

Repel Geese From your Property

By Elana Moriarty
(Previously Published)

Winter is on its way. Along with colder temperatures, this season also brings an overwhelming number of migrating Canada Geese. As a passerby these birds can be innocuous or even charming. However, when it is your land that the geese have claimed as their winter vacation getaway, they suddenly stop seeming so harmless. Not only are geese irritating—they can be dangerous as well. Part of the difficulty with solving the issue of goose infestations is that once a cycle of migration nests on your property, the new generation of geese have already been ingrained to return with each season. When a layperson attempts to deal with a goose infestation on his or her own, without any knowledge of goose behavior, it becomes clear where the saying “a wild goose chase” originates.

Just like the saying hints at, chasing a goose is futile. The key is to be proactive rather than reactive. To be clear, the origin of your problem is not the geese. The problem is that your property is attractive to geese. Take away the geese that are on your land right now and another flock will take its place. This is why solutions like the use of a border collie trained in chasing the geese away only last as long as the border collie.

Likewise, while you might be tempted to do something unsafe and ridiculous like shooting the geese that land on your property this is unnecessary and unhelpful. In addition to the fact that you will possibly be breaking laws and endangering your neighbors by taking this sort of action, you will also find that it has a very minimal, if any, effect on your goose infestation in the long-term. Instead, you will find that you’ve gained a new pest in addition to your goose problem: people protesting outside your property. Temporary solutions will only prolong your frustration. These types of situations trap you in a never-ending cycle and force you to keep shelling out cash. Products that focus on the environment that you provide rather than the geese who respond favorable to it will be much more effective for a lasting solution.

One thing to keep in mind is that the sooner your take action, the easier it will be to get a quick result. Ideally, you should prep your land before the geese arrive so that they know to travel elsewhere before laying down roots and starting the nesting process. If a full-fledged infestation is already in progress, start strategizing and execute your strategies as soon as possible. The longer the geese stay on your property, the more comfortable they will get. Once a goose realizes what a nice home he has found on your land, it will be much harder to convince him that there are better homes elsewhere.

If you have already let your goose problem go on for a long time it is not too late to solve it.

Environmental and Health Hazards of Goose Infestation

When geese come to your land they bring their appetite with them. They eat everything in their path. When they come in large numbers, as they often do, they can completely strip the land of plant growth. In one report published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service , the population of Canada Geese at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge started at 350 in 1989 and jumped to 5,000 by 2007. This population required approximately one half-pound of food per adult goose each day. The geese at said refuge ravaged the tender roots of aquatic plants, over-browsed the ground vegetation and contributed to a 40% loss at the refuge’s cornfields this past year. This problem was made worse when compounded with the fact that this ravenous eating leads to copious waste.

In the case of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, bird fecal waste leached into the water and degraded the water quality. Build up on the local driveways and parking areas of the visitor center was actually deemed a safety hazard due to the possibility of a slip-and-fall accident. Still, the most disturbing aspect of the waste from geese is that a plethora of avian diseases are passable to humans and fecal matter is rife with the possibility for transmission. While you may not have a population of geese as large as the wildlife refuge, you probably also do not have the resources that it is able to provide the existing geese. It is clear from this example that geese will populate an area until its resources are used up.

Solutions to Goose Infestation:

The first step to dealing with an infestation of geese is to get as much information on the population as possible. When do they arrive? What direction do they come from? Where are they settling? What are the environmental factors that make your land appealing to the geese? It will be easier to strategize ways to combat the problem if you have a full understanding of what the problem consists of. Start with a clean slate and get rid of all evidence: nests, fledglings, droppings, dead birds, and the residual scent - adult birds will return to protect their young, or to a familiar, “marked” scent. Also remove food spillage, garbage, nesting material and other items that make eating and nest-building easy.

You must consider that, like you, birds are multi-sensory. Just like you can put up with an irritation if an environment is appealing overall, geese will also stick around if you only approach the problem from one direction. Be prepared to take a synergistic approach that challenges all the senses:

Sight: Sight aversions are designed to look like predators. While some sight scare aversions are virtually useless due to the fact that geese become accustomed to their presence, others have been modified for maximum effectiveness. Rather than the traditional statue of an owl, try a balloon with mylar eyes. These are designed so that the eyes appear to follow any goose within a given area. Rather than sitting on the ground, they can be hung in trees so that they blow in the wind and move as a real predator would. For even more impact, they can be moved periodically to keep the geese from getting used to them. Also, holographic tape can be useful as the geese will feel ill-at-ease as the reflection changes with the light. Sight scare tactics are an economical and easy approach to dealing with bird troubles. They are very effective especially if you have a smaller property.

Smell: Geese utilize something called the trigeminal system which is similar to our sense of smell. A constituent of concord grapes has been found to be so unappealing to Canada geese that it actually seems to overwhelm them to the point that they are driven away from the treated environment. Despite its dramatic effect on bird infestation it has been used by the food and drug industry for over 40 years to flavor candy, sodas, gums, and drugs, is listed by the US FDA as “Generally Recognized As Safe” (GRAS), and is classified by the US EPA as “reduced risk”.

Touch: For specific areas that you would like to protect, netting can be used to block an area off from geese.

Taste: Products that utilize the same part of concord grapes that were mentioned in the

“smell” section also act upon the sense of taste. Geese will not want to graze on your property when the overwhelming sensation of these products hits them.

Sound: There are goose-specific sound devices that project the sound of distress calls into an area. While many companies carry sonic bird control devices they are not all created equal. In fact, all but one of these sonic devices uses distress calls that were recorded in a laboratory environment. As a result, the calls obtained by the researchers are not the same calls a flock would use to signify real, immediate danger in the wilderness and are, therefore, less effective. Bird-X manufactures and distributes the first and only sonic goose repeller with varied recordings obtained from the wild has been developed by Dr. Philip Whitford after 23 years of research in Canada goose behavior and vocal communications. This includes the very rare “alarm call” which is elicited for only the most dire emergencies.

These devices are especially useful if you have a large property or farm which is otherwise difficult to monitor. One unit covers 5-7 acres of land and adding another unit extends the coverage to 15-21 acres. After a couple scares geese will remember you’re your area is considered unsafe and find another, safer environment for when they are molting and nesting—times when they are most vulnerable.

What The Heck Are Bird Spikes?!?

Have you ever shot a perplexed glance at an establishment, carefully focusing on those pointy and somewhat displaced thingamajigs that comfortably lie on the ledges? Those seemingly never-ending strips of prickled solid can be found amongst a variety of structures, ranging from personal homes to corporate empires. I suppose we should address these gizmos by their correct name—bird spikes.

Bird Spikes on Subway Sign

Bird spikes are used to prevent germ-infested, undomesticated birds from roosting in a particular area. They work by making the available area that birds are able to land on undesirable, forcing them to land elsewhere. Bird spikes can be placed on virtually any flat surface, and are commonly found in areas where birds are liable to come in contact with humans. They can also prevent miniature rodents from crossing a particular area.

Let’s face it, feral birds are as annoying as they are disease-infested. Their obnoxious calls are loud enough to invoke infuriation—and perhaps insomnia— onto an entire neighborhood. Their vile feces are contaminated enough to bring a gradual death upon an innocent victim. Their presence is enough to bring down the value and aesthetic appeal of a property.

No one wants filthy birds—accompanied by a heaping dose of detrimental ramifications—invading their property, correct? Wild birds need to be ridded from properties! But harming or killing birds is not a valid option! Not only is it illegal to do so in some places, but it is ineffective as well. Sure, one may receive instant “gratification” by harming the exact bird that made him become a raging insomniac, but how exactly would that prevent migratory flocks from roosting? It wouldn’t. Property owners who use humane solutions such as bird spikes are completely aware of this.

The next time you fix your eyes upon an establishment’s eye-invoking beauty, take into consideration the extent to which the property owners are saving you from a bird dilemma. Enjoy every non-feces-infested gasp of air while gazing at its non-bird-invaded scenic view.

If you are experiencing bird issues and wish to rid them from your property in an ethical manner, visit Bird-X.com for a free evaluation or Click  for more detailed information about Bird Spikes.

Bird Spikes

Those frakkin’ geese!

Geese chilling at the train station pond

I take the train to work because of the traffic and the amount of money I save in gas and upkeep costs. Though I have to tell you that I’m really getting sick and tired of those frakkin’ geese! I’m at the station in the morning and there they are, busy flying overhead, crapping on the train platform just to protect their rights to the man-made pond nearby. And then I come home in the evening, trying to leave the parking area before I get stuck in a logjam of traffic and they are busy taking their own sweet time crossing the street. I swear, I often think about just plowing on through them, but they are protected by the government.

And that incessant honking! Can anything by any louder or more annoying than the geese communicating to each other? And what are they saying to one another? If only we could understand what they are saying, maybe their conversation would go something like this:

Goose #1: “Hey, I’m gonna take a big old dump right on the sidewalk. And then I’m going to honk at and chase the next human that walks by.”

Goose #2: “Oh yeah? Well, I’m going to go for a swim, defecate in the water, eat part of a fish and leave him in the pond. Then I’m going to fly over to that parking lot and I’m going to defecate some more right on that shiny red car.”

Goose #3: “You two are doing child’s play. I’m going to grab three friends and walk across that wide road all day long and stop traffic. And, while I’m in the middle of the road, I’m going to stop and clean myself.”

Geese 1 & 2: “Ooh. You win.”

And geese are smart. No matter what you do to stop them or get rid of them, they just ignore it…well, almost anything.

There’s this biologist in Ohio who’s like the Diane Fossey of geese. He’s been watching geese for over 25 years and is the foremost authority on goose behavior. He has been working with us here at Bird-X to develop products that will make geese leave - on their own - and take their friends with them. There’s this cool sound device called a GooseBuster that emits natural recordings of goose alarm and alert calls. Once the geese hear those soundas, they vamoose, knowing that trouble is afoot!

So I decided to do a little test. I asked my train mates about putting this sound device out there to see if it would scare away the geese - we’re subjected to the early morning honking and late afternoon jaywalking so why not try to get them to go elsewhere? They agreed and we set out to get rid of the geese. It took only three days! And now we hear faint honking and a distant corporate park when the wind is not in our favor. But the key here is that the geese are gone from our train stop. No more honking (from geese - cars are another issue). No more defecating on the train platform (someone actually slipped and fell in it once). And no more afternoon strolls across the street. Nada. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. They are gone - those frakkin’ geese are gone!

Want to control geese? Here’s five tips:

Tip: Geese love simple landscaping. “Hard” edges like those in parks, flower beds, gardens and around ponds will almost certainly attract their flock. Keep a more natural terrain; plant thicker grasses around ponds. This makes access to water more difficult.

Tip: Don’t feed them. Obvious? Definitely, but some people need an extra reminder. If the geese can’t eat on your property, they have no reason to return. A great way to discourage those in public parks is posting “Do not feed the geese” signs.

Tip: You know what geese hate? The smell and taste of Concord grapes. Bird-X’s GooseChase active ingredient, Methyl Anthranilate, is made from a constituent of Concord grapes. One gallon of concentrate yields 60 gallons of mixture. Spray it onto dry grass and said goodbye to geese.

Tip: Shooting and poisoning them don’t work! Short-term solutions do not change the fact that your property is appealing to geese. And these methods create another problem: animal rights activists, angry neighbors, and law enforcement. Stick with humane geese control.

Tip: Visual scares can work wonders if used properly. Try an aversion with mylar eyes, like Terror-Eyes. The lenticular eyes produce a holographic effect, constantly changing, making the birds believe they are being followed everywhere.