#2 - Never had to deal with birds when growing in-house

[DeaC]

Maybe Alaska is starting to look good again? Silly birds...living in Hawaii and picking on your buds! Think about putting up bird feeders?

[voyager]

Originally Posted by DeaC

Maybe Alaska is starting to look good again? Silly birds...living in Hawaii and picking on your buds! Think about putting up bird feeders?

Just this morning, we laid there before getting up and talked about the cool mornings we were having.
Then, one of us offered up the idea that we could always move back to Alaska.
We both had a good belly laugh at the idea of that happening.

I'd be worried that the feeders would only draw in more birds to feed on the orchids too, not that I dislike birds.
I just dislike birds feeding on my orchids.

[SimJam]

Horses doobers. OMG I though that play mangling that word was a cultural thing ( to Jamaica)

Anyways hope you find an effective way to control the birds ... I myself am trying to control the urge to taste my rhy. gigantea thats just starting to bloom.

[voyager]

Originally Posted by SimJam

Horses doobers. OMG I though that play mangling that word was a cultural thing ( to Jamaica) ...

I always thought that was the correct term and pronunciation for them. I come from a high class line of Southern Idaho farmers. I thought they were called that because they were about the size of a road apple. I still can't figure the correct spelling of the proper term.

I have a Rhy. gigantea 'Red' X 'Alba' that has a good sized spike [for a small orchid] with many buds on it.
it's not far from buds beginning to open.
I was disappointed that my Rhy. gigantea 'Red Spots' did not seem to be putting out a spike.
I took a closer look today.
I'm not certain, but it looks to be just starting an inflorescence. I don't think it's a root. I'll know for sure in a week or so.
Got my fingers crossed.

[voyager]

Originally Posted by SimJam

... I myself am trying to control the urge to taste my rhy. gigantea thats just starting to bloom.

This will teach you to not give me photo ideas when I've just gotten a new camera and am trying it out in every way I can think of.

I got more curious about the new inflorescence/root starting on my Rhy. gigantea 'Red Spots'.
So I pulled out my macro lens and a couple of old Nikon closeup lenses that I also have, and stacked them to get this:


It sure looks like the start of an inflorescence not a root to me.
It may be premature, but I'm doing an orchid blossom jig.
But then again, I may be seeing what I want to see.
Please, don't burst my bubble.

[Kasiopea]

Well I have just the opposite problem.
My orchids that are potted are Constantly bothered by birds that steal the potting media for their nests! They dig up the media, rip orchids out, turn over and brake pots. If you find a way to deal with them (without the use of shotgun lol ), I would love to know

[Joseia]

Originally Posted by wintergirl

Also you could make a "scarecrow" person stand near your orchids. Some people use fake owls to scare birds away.

How about dressing up in a giant owl costume and walking around the yard, while hooting loudly of course. Not sure if it would scare the birds away, but the neighbors sure would enjoy it.

[Roey.P.]

Hang on fishing net some cds the sine from the sun will make them hard to see and they will fly away.

[Leafmite]

CD's don't work for very long. My neighbor tried that with his cherry tree and the robins ate everyone of his cherries anyway. There are all kinds of things that have been developed for scaring herons away from ponds, though, and perhaps some of these things might work better if you don't want to cover all the orchids with net. Good luck!

[Tindomul]

The birds you are dealing with are not native to the island. There is no migration with the cardinals and finches, and many of these birds probably just stay in the same region all their lives, and their offspring do too.
Having said that. How about you put up a mist net to trap them and then release them. Do this for a few weeks. I'm willing to bet that they will learn that your property is stressful to them and will stop returning, at least in high numbers.
The problems with this are as follows;
1) you have to be home while using the mist net, so that the birds don't suffer unnecessarily or worse, die due to exposure.
2) you have to be willing to touch the birds in order to free them
3) even though these birds are not native to your area, your local authorities might not take kind to you doing this. Your neighbors might rat you out if they dislike you.

On second thought, maybe this should be a method of last resort.


In any case, if you can figure out a way to stress them out everytime they visit your property, then I am willing to wager they will give up returning to it.

---------- Post added at 12:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:02 PM ----------

Also, I don;t know what your personality is like, but birds absolutely fear being stalked. They fear it more than just a sudden loud sound or a crazy primate chasing them with a stick or anything like that. If you can pretend to be a predator, slowly sneaking up on them and then acting like you are going to catch them, then they will think twice before returning. And even if they do it will leave them on edge, so any little thing will scare them away quickly. They used this method of Canada geese at the airports in our area. It works!
If they feel they are being watched and like something is hiding and waiting to eat them, they will be freaked.