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

[BitOutOfPractice]

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?

A garage you could put the car in, not put the bird in. Though on second thoughts.....

I have a garage. It is currently full of DP's stuff as he's just moved house.

That's actually an excuse. It's full of my junk too!

In fact I don' think there's even room for a small bird in there!

He might think you are applauding him so carries on

How about two of those huge, hideous gnomes that Asda sells? Standing guard either side of your car .

You will miss him when he's gone Bit. But I did have a good laugh at this thread. 😀

You'll miss who when he's gone? DP or the fucking finch?

We had the same problem with a dunnock attacking our car mirrors and side windows when the car was parked on our drive. I'd run out waving my arms to shoo it away and the cheeky thing would give me a sideways look, fly off for 30 seconds and then come back.
It was nesting in a nearby tree and was protecting the nest as it stopped after a while. I spotted it today on the fence feeding a juvenile bird, so it must be too busy now to attack the car!

I wish my bird would become a SAHP too. He's got too much time on his hands now.

I have fashioned a new device from a fluffy sock, held in place with a bird scarer made from a bulldog clip, masking tape and a mini windmill. It's a little Heath Robinson but so far it seems to be deterring the chuffing chaffinch

"You'll miss who when he's gone? DP or the fucking finch?"

Love your posts BitOutOfPractice.

That sock scarer is the business.

Hehe Bit, wait, you mean you haven't got DP roped in to birdgate??

So, did the sock do the job? I am impressed.

You are soo going to miss Finchy when he leaves. Look at the level of creativity he has brought out in you.

Oh yes, DP is just as invested as me with Finchzilla. I heard him muttering about the "bastard bird" the other morning.

I've just been to check on the sock scarer and my heart sank when I saw a tell tale lump of white in the window seal. But it was in fact, sock fluff. The toe is flying jauntily in the wind and the windmill is going like the clappers. No sign of the bastard bird

Ha ha. Just came on to see how you're doing OP? Looks like it's BitOutOfPractice: 1, Finchzilla: 0, so far.

Well done.

But we shall see. He could be sitting in a nearby tree right now working out a way to beat your crafty system.

Agree with pp, you'll miss him when he's gone.

Oh god OP. You do know that you are now ‘that neighbour’ who dresses her car! 🤣

We don't have this problem but a similar one with swallows ... trying to deter them from building a nest jjust over our sitting room window (as they did last year and made a terrible mess and we couldn't open that window). Anyhow the little buggers are back and absolutely DETERMINED to build again in that exact spot. There are many other places for them to build, which we don't mind at all, but just not there. We have put up garden netting, made shiny hanging things etc, and sat there ringing bells and making noise. I think the shiny hanging thing which blows in the wind seems to be the best deterrent - maybe try something similar? They approach, then flap around in front of it for a minute, then go away. I made it from strips of silver foil-type wrapping paper (the plasticy kind) connected with a piece of wire made into a hook at the end.

TheFaerieQueene all the neighbours will want one once the bastard bird transfers to their car. I will sell them at a massive mark up

I have another bird problem. Its a yearly thing which I have now come to terms with. They won this fight fair and square. They nest in the roof just above my desk (I work from home). And they are also birds of the good beaked family, and hammer up there, all bloody day long whilst nesting. I started out banging the ceiling when they did, they flew out and it just progressed. To me banging once, it pecked back once. Then I banged twice, it pecked back twice. And this went on. After days of this cheeky fuckery I hung old cds outside near the entrance where they were flying in, tried to block up the holes. Nothing worked. So every Spring for a few weeks they peck away and I have come to terms with it. I went up in the loft to check what the bloody hell they are pecking at (when all was clear of peckers and babies) and they were pecking on the water holder of the geyzer overflow thingmabob, so not causing any damage.

In this case it is definitely Hoopoes 1 - Murphys 000000.

Its quite sweet to hear the babies cheeping though.

This thread has been most amusing

Nice work @Bitoutofpractice.

A completely shit free day. I may tell the rspb about my brilliant sock invention. It's the future.

Send out DH with his 12-bore.

Must be a SEAT thing... the lil birds around here are obsessed with our Ibiza!

LOVE your sock deterrent. Here's hoping it keeps working