Food chain in progress

Parent Cafe
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<p>So, on a lighter note, we really, really love our new rental. It’s ridiculously beautiful, our new landlord is way cool (professor/architecture), and the house is surrounded by just the most beautiful assortment of trees and plants - it’s sort of like a tropical paradise. </p>

<p>Anyway, parking my new mustang in the driveway, and the past week or so, I’ve seen these very beautiful bright red cardinals attack the mirrors - they’re attracted to the reflection, I guess. They’ve been pooping all over my car near the mirrors, too, and I don’t really want to get a car cover - I come and go too much, and it’s a pain, plus, I really, really enjoy seeing the cardinals, and it’s almost worth tolerating the poop on my new car in order to get to see these beautiful birds up close and personal. They obviously have a nest near by…I’m hoping there will be baby cardinals.</p>

<p>So this week it’s been a sequential process of (1) enjoy birds; (2) clean mirrors; (3) clean poop off car; (4) repeat process as they do it all over again. </p>

<p>But this morning, I look outside, and there are two cats now positioning themselves on the hood of my car, hoping to catch the birds, I suppose. </p>

<p>I don’t want the cats to catch the birds. I don’t want cats on the hood of my car. And I don’t really want the birds pooping on my car anymore. And I also don’t want to buy a car cover, because they’re a pain, and I’ll never use it consistently anyway.</p>

<p>I’m wondering if I should maybe put a bird feeder in the backyard, to encourage the birds to go elsewhere, or, perhaps tie plastic bags around the mirrors so the birds cannot see themselves any more, or if the birds will eventually get tired of the mirrors and stop attacking them, which would resolve pooping on my car. </p>

<p>I could also park on the street, but, I don’t really want to. </p>

<p>Is there some other way to discourage the birds, that doesn’t involve shrouding parts of my car in plastic?</p>

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<p>This sounds like the updated version of If You Give a Moose a Muffin, ie If You Give a Cardinal a Mustang! LOL, although I know this is not something you are really laughing about. The birdfeeder idea might work. We have one right outside my kitchen window and it’s lots of fun to see and identify all the different varieties of birds (and we get them all) up close. You might also try calling one of those Wild Bird Center stores or similar for advice.</p>

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<p>Forget the food – the mirrors are about sex. How about a larger, more visible mirror hanging on the outside of your building? Other than that, it sounds like the cats will eventually solve your problem.</p>

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<p>Can you just cover the mirrors while you are parked? A shower cap or something?</p>

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<p>You really need to do something - that digested bird residue is acidic and can eat through the clear coat and into the paint in no time.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Male sure your car has a recent wax job on it - especially in the areas where the birds ‘go’.</p></li>
<li><p>Wash the ‘residue’ off asap. If it’s solidified, don’t rub it hard as this can damage the paint. Just leave a saturated paper towel or rag on it for few minutes until the residue liquifies then gently wipe off.</p></li>
<li><p>Rethink the car cover idea. I can place/remove mine in probably a minute or less. To remove - I gather it longitudinally so it’s laying lengthwise in the middle on top of the car then I roll it up from the hood to the trunk then put it in the trunk. Installation is the reverse. I use the antenna hole (at front fender of my old stang) as a placement aid. It’s very quick. </p></li>
<li><p>If you don’t want to do the cover, maybe make some little ‘booties’ for the mirrors that you could quickly place/remove. If you’re not willing to do number 3 then you might tire of doing this.</p></li>
<li><p>My first thought was the same as WashDad’s - maybe another mirror will attract the birds elsewhere. My second thought was also the same as his - the cats will likely take care of it eventually but I agree with you that the cats on the hood can cause some damage as well.</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>I just asked my bird expert friend - she concurs with WashDad - this is about hormones, not about food! She also recommended putting something around the mirrors (tube socks could work), but said that generally the behavior diminishes after the birds nest. You probably don’t want to wait that long, and you may have to move or cover the whole car temporarily - this can definitely ruin the finish.</p>

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<p>late:</p>

<p>If you’d have gotten a “Cobra Mustang” this problem might not exist. :)</p>

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<p>lts, sorry to laugh but this is pretty darn funny. All except that "ruin the finish " part. :eek:</p>

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<p>LOL I was sort of thinking of waiting a day or two, to see if something even bigger shows up to try to eat the cats. </p>

<p>Thanks for the advice re the other mirror - that’s a good idea, maybe I can put it on the side of the house, and higher so that the cats won’t have any chance to reach the birds. </p>

<p>My daughter usually parks on the street, but parked in “my” spot in the driveway while I was away on travel, and she told me that the birds attacked her mirrors and pooped on her car as well. Maybe we’ll switch places - better they use her older car for a bathroom instead. </p>

<p>ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad, thanks for the advice re how to clean it off and also about dealing with the cover - I’m going to take it to the detail place tomorrow morning, and then talk to them about a cover…if they don’t sell them, they can at least tell me where to get a decent one…</p>

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<p>“Is there some other way to discourage the birds, that doesn’t involve shrouding parts of my car in plastic?”</p>

<p>Try burlap.</p>

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<p>sjmom’s shower cap idea would take only seconds. </p>

<p>It’s a funny story, LTS! I know you’ll solve it soon. Birds are pretty, but they do leave a mess, don’t they?</p>

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<p>LTS:</p>

<p>Why do you have so many of these funny things happen to you? Is the apartment in my part of the world, by the way? I also vote for the shower cap.</p>

<p>The old Bell Labs in NJ were made entirely of glass. They were right on the path of migration of Canadian geese. Every fall, there would be birds crashing into the buildings.</p>

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<p>I do very much like sjmom’s shower cap idea, but, I have not met ANY of the neighbors yet - we have only been here not quite three weeks, and I was on travel most of the first week and half the second.</p>

<p>The neighbors are supposed to be very, very nice, and peers to the architect professor, and, I worry what they will think if they see this nice new mustang in the driveway, and shower caps on both mirrors. I might not get a chance to explain, they’ll just think the new resident in the rental house is weird.</p>

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<p>LOL, Marite, I don’t know why this stuff always happens to me. This is in, ah, north Cuba, and, Mini, burlap would not work here I don’t think - the climate is very, very wet - humid, tropical. I would think burlap would get wet, never dry out, and mildew.</p>

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<p>The cardinals think that the mirror images are rivals entering their territory. They wish to drive off the “rivals”. Covering the mirrors should help all parties involved. :)</p>

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<p>

If you do go ahead and do this, then you should also go ahead and place a shower mat under the engine in case of drips and hang a back scrubber nearby to be used when washing the car. If nothing else, it might make the neighbors a bit more curious to meet you (or not). :)</p>

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<p>We’ve gone through this with mockingbirds (meanest bird on the face of the earth imo). We actually lost one of the 7’x4’ commercial glass windows in our breakfast room to an extremely hostile mockingbird early last spring. We were amazed that the bird was able to fly away after shattering that thick glass window, but even more amazed at the $400 cost to replace and $200 cost to tint the window. Unfortunately the tint is the problem because it makes the outside of the windows almost mirror-like. </p>

<p>I do think it’s a seasonal aggression thing…here there is definitely a certain time of the year when you have to cover your head outdoors to avoid mockingbird attacks. (Don’t have many cardinals though…the mockingbirds run them off.) I think the only thing to do is cover the glass/mirror. In the case of house windows, you just pray.</p>

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<p>Oh…yuk. I have scenes from “The Birds” playing in my head after reading about your mockingbirds, IDmom.</p>

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<p>Park it in the garage. You should be doing that even if there were no birds at all. Bird poop and cat scratches aren’t the only threats to your car out there. Just plain old UV light from the sun will do the same thing to you car’s appearance that it will do to your face –> make it aged and weather-beaten before its time.</p>

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<p>lol…it IS a scene from “The Birds” APMom! What is worse though, is watching small hawks making a run at the poor chihuahua as she makes a panicked attempt at a bathroom break. (We live adjacent to an undeveloped wooded area.)</p>