Bird Poo!

[Orionskies (Julian)]

Our house seems to be situated under the flight path of the local evening bat colony. Each night around twlight in their hundreds they fly over which made me wonder about poo and scopes!
I wonder if anyone has been unfortunate enough to have copped a direct hit from bird poo onto there scope lens? What was the end result?

.....seriously.

[deanm (Dean)]

Birds (other than owls) almost never fly at night.
Bat poo would be a different matter!
Dean

[Wavytone]

Personal experience suggests a lot more poo is produced by birds, bats and some insects - notably cicadas - while they're sitting in trees.

[deanm (Dean)]

I've noticed birds often crap on take-off, presumably to reduce weight for flight.
Makes biological sense...
Dean

[wayne anderson (Wayne)]

A few years ago we were living on sunshine coast at peachester and lots of bats nearby, every night on sunset they would take to flight bombing our house with poo.

One night my LX200 was dumped on making a great mess on the corrector lens, well that almost ended the nights viewing before it even started, i had to take the scope inside and gently remove the bat poo by dabbing the corrector softly with cotten wool balls and water to remove the poo then giving it a good clean with isopropyl alcohol and pure water, after about an hour i was back out viewing. If i was using a dobsonian and had this happen to me i would have to possibly remove the primary mirror and gently give it a wash and then a good clean taking a good deal longer to be out viewing again.

Bats..... i soon learned to keep scope covered and horizontal for the first hour or so after sunset until the numbers of them reduced.

[GrahamL]

Scope no , but have driven under a pelican on a light pole who put a full length Gt stripe down my car , a few seconds later into this wtf moment you are reminded what they eat mostly,Rotten fish . I don't know if this bird had issues or its just they are a big bird cause an awefull lot came out the back end that day .

[LewisM]

We live (currently) on the Maroochy River.

3500+ rainbow lorikeets chirping their freaking heads off right now (and then again at dawn, or worse, if some damned local event has fireworks). You dare not walk along the river on the path now under the eucalypts - it rains, literally, and it is deafening.

after sunset, we watch the linear stream of flying foxes - thousands upon thousands - making their way across the river.

And then we have the Peli-bombers sitting on the streetlamps...yes, the car has been splot-bombed more than once while driving.

Today I had to park my work car under some trees. When I finished work, I was greated by half-eaten fruit, crap and piddle all over it.

What exactly was Les saying about shooting birds?

[Orionskies (Julian)]

Thanks for all the information and sharing the poo stories I've enjoyed them so far it's a funny but serious subject.

Thanks Wayne for sharing your story and explaining what you did in the aftermath. Being a new Dob owner I appreciate your advice. If it had happened to me I probably would have hit the poo with a spray of the garden hose! So I think now I'll familiarize myself with the bottom of the scope in the unlikely event of a bullseye!

Cheers Julian

[alocky (Andrew lockwood)]

I have a pair of flying rats (doves) that have infested my backyard. All efforts to discourage them have failed, although apart from imploring a disinterested Scottish terrier to chase them away, the only enthusiastic efforts have been from my kids.
Although my dome keeps the scope safe during the day, the amount of phosphate this pair deposits all over the decking in the backyard makes me grateful that pterosaurs are extinct. And I suspect it's only a matter of time before one scores a direct hit on the optics when the shutter is open.
I'm am currently attempting to secure a goshawk - but would love to hear how other people deal with these pests.
Cheers
Andrew.

[clive milne]

Originally Posted by GrahamL

Scope no , but have driven under a pelican on a light pole who put a full length Gt stripe down my car , a few seconds later into this wtf moment you are reminded what they eat mostly,Rotten fish . I don't know if this bird had issues or its just they are a big bird cause an awefull lot came out the back end that day .

You have reminded me of the unfortunate evening when I was travelling to work on my motorcycle...

I was stuck behind what I presume was an abattoir truck (if there is such a thing?) Anyway, the stench coming off this thing was ungodly.
After about 5km of enduring this, we finally came to an overtaking lane whereupon I gave the loud pedal all it had to clear this assault on the senses.
Just as I drew level with the back of the truck, it lurches on the off-camber profile of the road and the heinous biological slurry that had formally been residing in the bottom of the truck, then exited to paint myself and my motorcycle from top to bottom...

Another 1/2 hour to work covered in decaying / fermenting urine, fecal matter, blood and guts... I have no words to describe how unpleasant that was.

[clive milne]

Originally Posted by alocky

- but would love to hear how other people deal with these pests.
Cheers
Andrew.

When I worked at Kurnell refinery, they used some sort of sticky grease laced with a particularly unpleasant flavour (or so I understand)

The idea is that the birds get it on their feet, then they try and get it off with their beaks.. and of course, after any attempt at preening... well, it would be fair to say that their day just goes rapidly downhill from there on.

It seemed to work.

[AndrewJ]

We used to go camping on the coorong with the scouts/sea scouts and would just pull up on a beach and sleep in sleeping bags in the open.
Every now and then an anguished scream of "PELICANS" would waft through and you just rolled over onto your face, pulled up the hood and hoped.
Quite funny as long as you werent one of the "hits"

Andrew