Bird-B-Gone, Inc. asked:

Got birds? Absolute Bird Control is a website dedicated to providing the very best in affordable and humane bird deterrents. The site offers a full line of easy to use products that can remedy virtually any pest bird problem, and the products are designed for home use! Whether you have pigeons under an eave, geese in your yard, or sparrows nesting on a window sill, Absolute Bird Control has the right product for you!

Pest birds can be quite a nuisance. They create a mess, and can carry disease such as West Nile Virus, Avian Flu, and Histoplasmosis. It is important to address a pest bird problem as soon as one is spotted. The longer birds inhabit an area, the harder it is to get them to move on.

For years Absolute Bird Control has been dedicated to helping home owners find the best product for their pest bird problems. The customer service department is committed to educating customers on the different products available.

Recently Absolute Bird Control polled its customer service department to find out what the top ten “pest bird” questions they received were. The list below provides solutions for the most common bird problems home owners’ encounter. If you have a pest bird problem, Absolute has a solution!

1. Pigeons On a roof

Birds like the highest points on buildings for predator and food lookout. When you take away the option to land there, they will usually move on and find another spot. Pigeons or seagulls can be deterred by using the spike products. Birds know they cannot land on such a surface. An outdoor sound deterrent also works well in this situation. These units are weatherproof, and can cover large areas. Other options would be the gel repellants. Applied to the roofline, birds do not like the “sticky sensation” on their feet, and will move on. Making the area uncomfortable will be your best bet. Because it can be difficult to access a roof area, calling in a authorized pest control company may be the best way to take care of birds on a roof. To find an installer in your area, call 1-800-392-6915.

2. Small Birds nesting under and eave or canopy

An eave is the perfect home for a bird. It provides shelter from the elements and predators. Scents in the nesting material and droppings will lead the bird back to their own nest. The most important step is to make sure all of the nesting material is cleaned away. Calling a pest control professional to help aid with the clean up and installation is your best bet. Bird droppings carry disease, and the proper protection is a must. Once the nests and droppings are cleaned up, there are several products that can help. The best way to keep smaller birds out of an eave is to block them out with netting. The netting acts as a physical barrier. Treating the beams that the birds are nesting on with the Bird Gel will also help. The Bird Chase Supersonic, an outdoor sound deterrent, is weatherproof and can be programmed for smaller birds. Predator calls signal the birds to move away from danger.

3. Pigeons on a Balcony or patio

Pigeons on a balcony or patio area are a very common problem. These areas provide shelter, and prime nesting locations. Because the birds land indiscriminately on these areas, it is important to choose something that will encompass the patio or balcony. Many people have success with stringing visual deterrents such as Mylar Flash Tape or Scare Eye Diverters. Both use visual scare tactics to frighten birds away. A sound deterrent can also help with this problem; they cover wide areas, and require no maintenance. For table tops and A.C. units, the Repeller, a solar powered unit that uses motion to scare birds, will also work.

4. Geese in yard, making a mess of grass area

Geese are large birds, which create large messes. Absolute Bird Control carries three different products to deter geese. There is a topical grass repellent called Migrate. It is made out of grape extract, and geese can't stand the taste. Applied to a lawn area, geese will realize they do not have a food source and move onto a better spot. There is also a product called the scarecrow which is hooked up to a garden hose. Every time the unit detects motion it will spray out water. Lastly there is a sound deterrent called the Goose Chase Sonic, which uses distress calls of other geese to move geese on. If you only have a few geese any one of the goose products will work. If you have a greater number of geese on the property, you may want to consider using a combination of the products.

5. Woodpeckers destroying the side of a home

Woodpeckers peck into surfaces for a three reasons, to look for food, to attract a mate, and to create a nesting cavity. If woodpeckers have chosen your home to peck at, there are a few successful items you can use. Visual deterrents, such as the Diverters, Scare Eye Balloons, or Mylar Tape work well with a woodpecker problem. These three items have reflective surfaces which woodpeckers will avoid. The Bird Chase Super Sonic can be programmed for woodpeckers. The unit can cover between 1-5 acres, and is weatherproof.

6. Birds sitting on a window sill

Window sills provide a perch, and often shelter. Making the sill un-usable for birds is a good way to stop a bird from choosing your window. Products such as the Bird Spikes or Bird Gel work well in this situation. If you have birds flying into a window, or pecking at a window, we carry “window alerts”. These are decals applied to the window itself, which help birds recognize the surface, and ignore the reflection.

7. Seagulls or Pigeons making a mess on a boat or dock

When a boat owner goes out to their boat, the last thing they want to do is clean bird droppings. The masts and spreaders of boats provide perfect landing spots for these large birds. We have two great products to help boat owners battle a tough bird problem. The Bird Spider is a very simple product, with very successful results. Steel arms bounce in the wind, the motion will frighten birds away. Usually one spider at each end of a boat will be enough to deter birds. The Repeller, the solar powered bird deterrent, can also be used on boats. This unit is ideal for flat surfaces such as canopies or covers. The continuous sweeping motion of the rods will keep the birds at bay.

8. Noisy Birds in a nearby tree

Its 6:00 am and the birds in a nearby tree are at it again! Usually customers are troubled with the noise and mess birds create while in a tree. If they are not nesting you could try the outdoor sound deterrent (the Bird Chase Super Sonic) this emits predator and distress calls, when birds hear these calls their natural instinct is to flee the area. Visual deterrents in the tree such as our Mylar flash tape of scare eye balloons may also help. Fruit growers have success with the Scare Eye Diverters when trying to protect fruit trees.

9. Birds / Ducks in or near a pool

If you are having problems with birds around your pool you may want to consider the outdoor sound deterrent. This devices uses predator and distress calls to scare the birds. It is weatherproof and can be programmed to which bird you are having the problem with. Because you cannot really treat the pool with surface treatments (like spikes or gel) this may be your best option. If the problem is ducks in a pool, the scare eye balloons used in the pool have proven to be successful. The “Scare Eye Balloon” has mock predator eyes printed on the balloon. Ducks will be frighten by the site, and move on.

10. Small Birds nesting in a Garage / barn

Nesting Birds are tough to get rid of. Absolute Bird Control gets calls about birds in a garage or barn area often. Again these structures provide perfect shelter. As with question 2, netting off areas is the best way to keep birds out. Blocking access to the rafters or beams that the birds perch on is a great way to protect these areas. We also carry an indoor sound deterrent called the Bird Chase Super Sonic. This unit uses high frequency ultrasonic noises to deter birds, and can cover up to 6,000 square feet.

Using the information in this list can save you time and money! Visit www.absolutebirdcontrol.com now for information and pricing on any of the products listed. The customer service team is waiting to help you solve your pest bird problem today.

Erik Willis asked:

The study of birds is a very popular hobby for many people throughout the world. No special equipment is needed for bird study other than a notebook to list the number and kinds of birds observed and a guidebook to aid you in bird identification. However, a good pair of binoculars is recommended. Photography of birds can also be a rewarding hobby but it demands skill, patience and requires purchase of some expensive equipment.

There is an abundance of bird information available to the enthusiast. Let's begin with a bit of history.

Evolution of Birds

Most ornithologists believe that birds evolved from dinosaurs. The first known species of bird, the archaeopteryx, lived about 150,000,000 years ago. Although it had feathers and wings, it also had reptilian features, such as teeth, claws on all four limbs, and a long, bony tail.

Fossil birds of North America were the ichthyornis, which resembled a gull, and the hesperornis, a water-dweller about five feet long with sharp teeth. By about 75,000,000 years ago, the types of birds we know today had already begun to develop.

How Birds Are Classified

Referenced bird information shows that birds form the class Aves of the phylum Chordata. There are also two subclasses: Archaeornithes, which consists entirely of extinct birds (including the archaeopteryx); and Neornithes, which includes three superorders as follow:

· Odontognathae – Extinct birds that had teeth. Examples are the ichthyornis and hesperornis.

· Impennes – This consists of only one living order, Sphenisciformes or penguins.

· Neognathae – There are 28 orders to this superorder, including:

1. Struthioniformes

2. Rheiformes

3. Casuariiformes

4. Dinornithiformes

5. Apterygiformes

6. Tinamiformes

7. Gaviiformes

8. Colymbiformes or Podicipidiformes

9. Procellariiformes

10. Pelecaniformes

11. Ciconiiformes

12. Anseriformes

13. Falconiformes

14. Galliformes

15. Gruiformes

16. Diatrymiformes.

17. Charadriiformes

18. Columbiformes

19. Psittaciformes

20. Cuculiformes

21. Strigiformes

22. Caprimulgiformes

23. Apodiformes (formerly Micropodiformes)

24. Coliiformes

25. Trogoniformes

26. Coraciiformes

27. Piciformes

28. Passeriformes

Bird Care Tips

There are a myriad birds that make good pets. In fact, birds are among the most popular common house pets. Care must be taken though in the choosing of birds and in bird care. Here are some tips:

Choosing a Bird

While small birds, such as parakeets and canaries, require minimal care, large birds, such as parrots, cockatoos, and cockateels, can require a great deal of care and demand a lot of affection. Make sure you know about the requirements of the bird you're considering.

Avoid buying a canary between July and October, which is the canary's molting season. A sudden environmental change during that period may send it into shock.

Before buying a parrot, be prepared for a lifetime relationship – it may live longer than you do. Parrots become extremely attached to their owners.

Caring for Birds

When holding a pet bird, be very gentle. Bird bones are fragile – even the slightest pressure on the wrong spot can cause a fracture.

Never let a pet bird loose in the kitchen.

If a pet bird breathes through its open mouth, you know it's sick. Buy a bird antibiotic at the pet store, pulverize it, and add it to your bird's drinking water. If this doesn't help, get it to the vet right away.

J Ruppel asked:

Many factors combine to make the winter months tough ones for our feathered friends. Food can be hard to find, as there is less of it, and what there is may be covered by snow and ice. The bushes and plants are mostly dormant, and for those birds that normally feed on insect, these too are are often hibernating or dormant, and certainly not available to eat. All this combines to make it hard for the birds to find food. Compound this with the fact that as warm blooded creatures they need more energy to simply stay warm in the wintertime, and you can easily see that this can be a time of stress.

A great source of high calorie, or high energy food is suet. Suet is raw beef fat, typically taken the animal's kidneys and loins. Because of its high fat content it is very high in energy. It is often combined with some other high energy foods like nuts to make it very attractive to a wide range of birds, such as nuthatches, woodpeckers, wrens, cardinals, bluebirds. On the flip side, it can also attract squirrels and some pest birds as well, such as starlings. One thing many people so is use a caged feeder to discourage the squirrels from poaching the suet. Another thing to try with starlings is a suet feeder that only has a cage opening on the bottom, as they will not usually feed that way but many other birds will.

Suet usually goes through a process called rendering, which gives it the lard like appearance and an almost waxy like texture. It is usually shaped like a small block, similar in size and shape to a simple sandwich. It can be mounted in a feeder that simply hangs it on a tree, in cages that can be hung from tree branches, or there are some hopper type feeders that hold bird seed in the hopper, and have suet cages on the side, which can serve to feed several types of birds at one time.

Another popular approach is to use suet ball, which often have a string so they can simply be hung from tree branches. To keep pests away, one favorite trick is to flavor the suet with pepper. The pepper will discourage mammals like squirrel, but the birds are unaffected by the pepper.

The winter months also make it tough to keep water available to your outdoor wildlife. The cooler temperatures work quickly on devices like bird feeders since they are designed to be shallow, which means they will freeze up fairly fast. One way to deal with this is to buy a heated bird bath. But if you already have a favorite bird bath, another simple solution is to use a bird bath heater. This are simple coils, usually powered off the household current, and will have a thermostat built in so they will keep the water at a reasonable temperature will thawing it nicely for the birds to use.

Just a few simple ideas like this will help keep your local bird population healthy and ready to sing when the spring thaw eventually comes.

Richard Adams asked:

and early summer each year baby birds are struggling for survival. Inevitably the odd young bird tries to fledge too soon or falls out of the nest before it should and is found by a person like you or me.

How to feed young wild birds and ensure their survival through to adulthood then becomes key and is a challenge not to be taken lightly.

Even with the best information and intentions, before feeding young birds you should be aware that there is still a good chance they won't survive. Injuries from their fall, stress or just plain bad luck can all have an effect on a young bird. In addition, it may have fallen out of the nest not through bad luck but because it is weak or diseased and may not make it anyway.

Sometimes, as cold hearted as it sounds, you are best to leave the bird exactly where you find it. In many cases the bird may have fallen accidentally and may look in danger but it is quite likely one of thr adult parent birds is watching from a nearby bush or tree.

As soon as you touch the baby bird it will be disowned by it's parents and no more maternal care by it's parents will be offered so if you do pick up a baby bird for whatever reason, you will have to care for it from then on. On the flip side, if you leave the baby bird alone the parent may well come down and feed the bird or help it back up to a safe roost. Fallen baby birds are, after all, quite common and wild birds have evolved and developed solutions over the years.

But let's assume that for some reason you feel you have to rescue the baby bird. How are you going to care for and feed the young wild bird?

The bird should be kept in a surrogate nest – such as a shoe box – with paper towel around the edges and along the bottom of the box to absorb any mess and to make the baby bird feel comfortable. Any mess should be renoved immediately and cleanliness is vitally important to your success as a surrogate parent. Try to do your best not to upset the bird – keep it warm and in semi-darkness unless you are trying to feed the bird and keep noise and commotion to an absolute minimum around the box.

Next, the feeding.

The easiest utensil to use for feeding birds is a teaspoon, which you have modified by deliberately bending up the sudes using a vice and/or pliers to create a sort of "shute" or tube down which food can be poured.

Foods to try for young birds, depending on the species, are bread crumbs, cooked egg yolk, finely-ground cooked meat or one of the professional rearing foods available from larger pet stores. All foods should be moist and easy to swallow and baby birds should be fed regularly – every 30 minutes or so inititally extending to once every 30 – 60 minutes as the bird grows.

Bob Cotto asked:

Although, taking parrots out of their natural environment and into the home can present some interesting challenges, people have been doing it for ages.  And why, you might ask.  Actually the answer is simple.  These magnificent birds are intelligent, beautiful, and very caring.  With intelligence and proper care these gorgeous birds can provide one with a pet companion for many many years.

Of course, each species will have some differences in the way they need to be cared for but the most common element in caring for all parrots is their nutritional needs.  Good diet and nutrition is a basic requirement for all parrots.  The most basic diet for them is a mixture of fresh fruits and vegetables, a very good quality seed mixture enriched with vitamins and minerals and of course, parrot pellets.  Fresh water is also critical to the good health of your bird.

In the world of "birds as pets", parrots are considered to be on the dirty end of the spectrum.  Therefore, its very important that the owner be responsible for seeing that the cage is cleaned every day.  That means that the perches, dishes, toys, etc. should be cleaned daily with a very mild soapy water solution.  Household cleaning products that contain ammonia or bleach should never be used as these can cause harm to the parrots skin, eyes, and respatory tract.  As important as it is to keep the birds cage and surrounding clean it's equally important that the owner  have very clean hands when touching the bird and everything in it's cage.  Owners must think of their bird exactly as they would if handling a baby or small child.  Cleanleness and safety are critical.  The birds cage must be inspected for sharp pointy objects that could possibly injure the bird.  "Kissing" is a no-no.  Human saliva has a great deal of harmful bacteria that would not tell your bird that you love him/her.  Another important factor is the size of the cage.  There must be enough room of the bird to fully extend its wings inside the cage.  There also needs to be enough room for the bird to easily play with 3 or 4 parrot toys.

Just like a child, parrots can/will form very strong bonds with its owner/parent.  And this bond will last for a very long time.  Smaller birds have a life expectancy of between 15-30 years while the larger birds can live for between 40-50 years.  Once you get your bird, you've got it for a very long time.  And just like a child, communication and socialization is a critical part of not only its development but your relationship with the bird as well.  Bird cages should be placed in an area of the home where most of the family spends most of its time.  "Family" room is ideal.  Kitchens are NOT!  Kitchens carry the risk of the bird breathing in cooking fumes and cleaning fumes which could prove to be toxic and endanger the birds wellbeing.

One of the requirements of good bird care is the grooming of the bird.  Parrots do not groom themselves very well and their beaks, naild and wings grow continually throughout their entire lives.  Manicures and pedicures need to be done at least once a month.  Wing clipping may need to be done a little more often to prevent them from flying.  And once again, just like their human owners, daily showers is a very good thing.  In the wild, parrots take rain showers to keep their feathers shiny and in good condition.  In the home, a daily spraying with clean fresh water can replace their bath practices in the rainforest.

Finally, owners need to understand that parrots are very smart.  They are loving and playful pets.  If owners understand the importance of the needs of these wonderful birds and if they understand how to meet those needs, they will have a wonderful pet that will provide many years  of friendship and joy.

Renske Buursma asked:

When your kids start asking for a pet, you might hear "I want a Bugs Bunny" or a "Mickey Mouse", both pets you might shy away from. But, for those that hear "I want a Tweety Bird", you have nothing to worry about as birds can make some of the most entertaining and loveable household pets around. Not only are they moderately easy to care for, they can liven up your entire house with their sweet song and a colorful plumage. For those Tweety seeking future pet owners, the reasons to consider a bird are numerous.

Small Birds

A small bird will be an incredibly easy pet for you to care for. Not often very expensive, requiring only a decent cage and a good supply of food, birds like Cockatiels and Finches tend to be more or less independent, especially if you buy more than one. They will be more than happy to entertain themselves and when it comes to time to watch them or whistle with them, they are more than willing to oblige. While some smaller birds can become ornery if not properly raised from birth, many are a joy to handle and keep around the house.

Larger Birds

Parrots are probably the most entertaining and intriguing of birds when considering them as a pet. Not only is their ability to mimic legendary, and quite often incredibly entertaining, they live an extremely long time, on par with a human life span, meaning that a parrot will be a pet and household companion for life. While these birds will cost a bit more and need larger cages and numerous toys to keep them occupied, a parrot for someone with the time to spend is a wonderful pet, one that will become so attached as to feel like a member of the family.

Choosing

The difference between a finch and a parrot is vast, a decision that will largely depend on where you live, how much time you have to spend, and who will be around the bird. While finches and canaries largely dislike being handled, a parrot thrives on that attention and the more time you spend with them outside of the cage, the closer they will bond to you.

A smaller bird will often serve as a companion of proximity, keeping a lively, energetic atmosphere in your apartment or home, while a parrot is another member of the family, a reason to turn off the TV and gather the family around while he plays.

Whichever bird you decide to make your pet, and it really depends on what lifestyle you lead and the time you have available, you'll find that they can make one of the most rewarding and entertaining pets around, with a range of interaction between species perfect for making your decision, based on your lifestyle. Whether large or small, a pet Tweety can liven up any home.