Comments on: F-Ing Owls, How Do They Work?

By: PeterC

PeterC — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:34:08 +0000

So hilariously true. The silhouette birds are always in flight and often times in multiple directions, seems to whisper “Come join the no limits flight party going on right here.”

By: sergdun

sergdun — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:11:22 +0000

my Dad got one of those fake owls to stop a woodpecker from trying to live in his attic. Didn’t work either.

By: chalkman

chalkman — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 02:43:00 +0000

One of the Dolores Park hawks moved into my neighbors tree and bagged so many pigeons in our collective yards that mother pigeons frighten their young with tales of it…

By: Emily

Emily — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:08:48 +0000

I have also found that f-ing pigeons don’t give a hoot (pun intended) about owls. I live in downtown Tucson, which is hardly metropolitan, and sometimes I actually hear REAL owls! Still, the false owl that my neighbor put up on her ledge was KNOCKED down by the pigeon. On my other neighbor’s ledge, they knocked down a cat-scratching post. On my ledge, they knocked down a larger, less realistic but way more freaky-looking owl made of copper, a ceramic squirrel, and some BRICKS. Now there’s one to ponder: How does an animal whose bones are light enough to allow it to fly dislodge and fling a brick? Now when they come around I swat at them with a broom.

By: JP

JP — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 22:19:28 +0000

Nice investigative reporting.
I have been surprised to see an owl (live) swoop by when in Dolores Park, but maybe bumpkin Dolores pigeons don’t talk with the urban pigeons…or none who see the Dolores owl live to tell the tale.

By: brian

brian — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:57:27 +0000

Totally agree with urban creatures thing. I’m amazed at how desensitized they are to people sometimes.

“We had a deal!”

By: SFDIGIFILM

SFDIGIFILM — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:53:27 +0000

The Pigeon Whisperer -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGkOIlc2CtM

Best scene in the film Baby Mama is when what’s-his-name is installing owls on the balcony.

By: Ariel Dovas

Ariel Dovas — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:11:37 +0000

Oh, two more things: 1) I lived in this building for my high school years and don't remember ever having a pigeon problem, so . . . 2) Remember that kid who wrote that song that sounded like a The Postal Service song but way more annoying? That bugged.

By: Cranky Old Mission Guy

Cranky Old Mission Guy — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:58:07 +0000

I have one of those owls on top of a cupboard next to my cockatiels’ cages. They totally don’t care.

By: Edward

Edward — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:41:52 +0000

Aren’t owls nocturnal predators? Maybe the ruse only works by night.

On a loopily related topic, Germans are always putting up these bird silhouette window stickers intended to keep pigeons and whatnot from crashing into the glass. How does that work? The implication of the soaring bird picture seems to be “birds fly here all the time”.

Example: http://tiny.cc/6nkgd

By: Ralph

Ralph — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:40:32 +0000

Genius.

By: Hellen

Hellen — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:58:54 +0000

this is an adorable post