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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To want this bird to leave my car wing mirrors alone and stop shitting on my car

72 replies

BitOutOfPractice · 15/05/2018 07:57

Posting here for traffic!

This is the second year this has happened. A small bird (a finch type thing I think) will not leave my car alone.

He flies at at the wing mirrors, pecking at his reflection. This would not be a problem (even with the mess he makes with his beak of my mirror...do birds have spit?) except that he shits all over my car door. The picture shows what he (I assume it's a he!) has done from dawn to 7am today as I cleared it off last night.

I have tried windmills to scare it off, I've tried covering the mirror (apparently by this stage it's learned behaviour and he's not actually interested in his reflection), I've tried pictures of hawks etc.

Does anyone have any ideas of what I can try without spending a fortune on electronic devices which seem to get terrible reviews anyway and don't seem to work.

Obviously bird shit is bad for the paintwork but I'm sick of cleaning to off 5 or 6 times a day. Short of keeping 24-hour vigil, what can I do to stop the chuffing chaffinch?

OP posts:

FASH84 · 15/05/2018 09:59

Pictures of hawks 😂😂😂 Sorry OP I know this is annoying but it really made me chuckle, can you put a bird feeder elsewhere with a mirror hanging from it?

Dahlietta · 15/05/2018 10:11

Oh, I pass a little chaffinch like this every morning at the moment! Pecks away at his own little reflection. I have thought quite frequently, "I'm glad that's not my car".

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks · 15/05/2018 10:13

You need to borrow a cat to sit on the roof of the car.

MumofBoysx2 · 15/05/2018 10:16

tie a plastic (big) bird to the car mirror?

UpstartCrow · 15/05/2018 10:27

@BitOutOfPractice You need to cover your car with a tarp.

Shampaincharly · 15/05/2018 11:08

Have just looked at your pic;
Ours was far worse than that; It was like a dirty protest. Spread it all over the car with its wings;
The owl did stop working after a while; It was taken to the dump;
You will just have to clean it up then .

Shampaincharly · 15/05/2018 11:10

Seagull poo is in another league though. It takes the lacquer off and makes surface look like fuzzy felt.
Do not feed these.

Original poster

BitOutOfPractice · 15/05/2018 12:05

Shampaincharly The picture I about 1.5 hours' worth. If I left it all day it would be literally caked in it

MumofBoysx2 surely tying another mirror to the car is just going to attract it / wind it up more?

Upstart I think cleaning it off every couple of hours is less faff than putting a tarp on and off half a dozen times a day

Seems like there's no remedy

I don't like laving it on the car as a. its so bad for the painting b. I have a special finish applied to it and the warrantee that comes with it is invalidated if you don't get bird poo off

I'll just have to learn to live with aggressive little bugger

OP posts:

Original poster

BitOutOfPractice · 15/05/2018 12:06

Shampaincharly oh yes, seagulls poo really is the work of the devil

OP posts:

pigsDOfly · 15/05/2018 13:29

If you attached a large black bin bag to the front of your car somehow - perhaps anchored under the bonnet - so it flapped around in the wind and made a lot of noise that might scare the bird off.

From the sound of it though it'll just start having a go at the bin bag.

Shampaincharly · 15/05/2018 13:35

@BitOutOfPractice
You have my sympathy. It is horrendous. We had this for 2 years in a row and then it stopped. ( cross fingers). We did plan to build a garage but are only allowed a car port type thing through planning application.
These birds are really persistent.

Original poster

BitOutOfPractice · 15/05/2018 13:49

pigsDOfly that might be an idea! I might stick carrier bags in the windows and see if that works. Thank you!

OP posts:

murphys · 15/05/2018 14:05

Oh I had this very same problem. But with a much bigger bird, with a fucking big beak. I am not in UK and this bird is from the woodpecker family, so can really drill into things. So it decided to do the very same to my wing mirrors, at first I didn't know what the bloody hell was going on as the mirror looked like a massacre had happened on it. I did not know that a bird had saliva! It is clear now they do..... Well this one completely scratched my mirrors and the side of my (white) vehicle seemed to have permanent purple clumpy shit down the door (I park near a tree that has red berries, double fail). So I wrapped them each night with a rag and elastic band, then kept a look out, and there it still was, pecking away, and RIPPED the cloth. on both sides. So every time I wanted to go out I had to wash the damn door before getting in. So I parked in a different spot for a while, and it seemed to be better, but the parking area wasn't the most convenient, so the moment I parked back in the usual spot it was back again. So then I went on bird duty, and roped the dc in too, as to whenever we saw it coming closer we would run out and be all loud, banging etc. I am sure the neighbours thought we had gone completely bonkers. Well it did fly away, but of course came back during the night, or early morning.

And then one day, it just stopped coming.

As much as it infuriated me, I sort of miss the little guy. He did become quite fearless and I swear he started to get that look of, 'oh no not you again' when we went out.

But my car is much cleaner.

Original poster

BitOutOfPractice · 15/05/2018 14:35

Crikey murphys that makes my problem seem mild by comparison

I hope Woody doesn't come back next mating season...

OP posts:

mustbemad17 · 15/05/2018 14:40

Put a bigger mirror up away from your car & bag the wing mirrors. Might turn his attention to the newest intruder

Luisa27 · 15/05/2018 14:51

Buy a cheap car cover - I just checked they start @£15 on Amazon - waterproof - fits any car

Simple - cover the car when it’s parked up at your house?

No more bird poo drama

Quirkyturkey · 15/05/2018 15:28

We had this with a large crow, except he'd damage the cars - pick at the rubber seals and the wiper blades. Every morning I'd hear him (he cawed loudly while he was doing it). Would bang on the window and he'd hop off, swagger down the road a bit and pick on someone else's car - cheeky bugger!

It lasted about three weeks and then stopped suddenly when someone shot him - have a feeling it was my neighbour.

pigsDOfly · 15/05/2018 15:32

Yes, Quirky, I imagine shooting the bird would solve the issue pretty quickly.

Don't think the OP is thinking along those lines somehow though.

Shampaincharly · 15/05/2018 15:34

@mustbemad17, tried the mirror. Did not work.

HaroldsSocalledBluetits · 15/05/2018 15:40

I can't believe someone shot a bird! . That's terrible!

LakieLady · 15/05/2018 15:48

Seagull poo is in another league though.

Ain't it just? A seagull shat on my windscreen when I was doing 70 on a dual carriageway. I'd just gone under a bridge and I thought someone had dumped a gallon of white emulsion from the bridge. I had to stop in a layby and getting it off completely emptied my washer bottle.

Mind you, when DP was with his ex, he had a lovely old jag with a sunroof. A seagull managed to crap through the open sunroof, but the shite missed DP completely and covered his ex! How he laughed.

I can only suggest perhaps attaching some plastic to the side of the car when leaving it parked, and removing it when you drive off. Nearly as much faff as a car cover though.

Ginorchoc · 15/05/2018 15:57

Have you asked him to stop?

PiggeryPorcombe · 15/05/2018 16:03

What do you do if a bird shits on your windscreen?

Don’t ask her out again.

Original poster

BitOutOfPractice · 15/05/2018 16:10

Ginorchoc if rushing out of the house clapping my hands and shouting "bugger off!" counts as asking him, then yes I have

Lakie

OP posts:

AprilLady4 · 15/05/2018 16:20

Have you got a garage you could put it in, OP? Or could you put the car round the corner? If it was out of sight for a week or so, maybe the bird would forget about it.

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