Bird Deterrance

While perusing the following please keep in mind our pet starling, Persnik
Vulgaris, who each morning waits patiently for his pinch of meal worms.
Persnik was a little bird last spring that I rescued from in front of our shop
in Brooklyn and took home where the family nursed him into young adulthood.
Though it would be convenient to demonize starlings as pest birds I find them
to be extremely interesting and, considering Pernik's habit of sitting on my
head, loyal companions.

Though these articles stretch the non-commercial rule of BP I believe the
offerings can be appreciated for their educational value.

Attached is a Microsoft Word file containing two news items from
manufacturer's print newsletters that may be of particular interest to
historic preservationists dealing with the birds.

The first is from ProSoCo, a manufacturer of cleaning chemicals for masonry
restoration and a corporate member of APT offering training sessions in bird
deterrence.

The second is from Bird Barrier, a California based business that has put a
great deal of intelligence and energy into providing effective products for
bird deterrence. The Bird Barrier article describes a completed project of
providing 100% surrounding netting for the Douglas County Courthouse in Omaha,
Nebraska.

Are Birds Leaving Their Mark on Your Building? (PROSOCO)

PROSOCO offering training sessions in bird deterrence for those interested in
hosting a box-lunch seminar or in participating in a regional training pro-
gram. PROSOCO is a registered provider for the American Institute of
Architects Continuing Education System (AIA/CES)

Birds Ruled in Contempt of Courthouse ... Sentence: Exile by StealthNet (Bird
Barrier)

Douglas County Courthouse in Omaha, Nebraska had one of the most challenging
bird control problems possible; thousands of starlings roosting every night on
hundreds of ledges, window sills and pediments. "We have a lot of
architectural areas that birds love," said Eric Pherson building
administrator. "There is a lot of scroll work on our columns and all kinds of
crevices for pigeons and starlings to nest."

While this is a common problem on buildings of this size and design (with many
roosting points), many people are reluctant to install the only fully
effective solution -- exclusion netting from top to bottom --because they
believe it will be too visible. Starlings are agile, intelligent and
determined, and will overpower literally any ledge deterrent. Netting
installed vertically up the sides of the building creates a wall they cannot
pene-trate, so they cannot return to the building they once ruled. Plus, most
peo-ple are surprised when they see how well the netting blends in with the
building.

][<en Follett