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Saturday, April 26, 2008
Water Scarecrow
I bought one each of the Contech Electronics Scarecrow Motion-Activated Sprinkler and the Havahart Spray Away Motion Activated Water Repellent, to keep the neighbors cats away from my feeders. The Havahart was about $11 cheaper, but based on the units that I have, it is built cheaper, too. YMMV, of course. They both seem to work OK, but the Havahart leaks more than the Contech. Using these is not a perfect solution! Every time I mow the yard I have to move them, and as I said, they both leak, some. I knew that I was going to have trouble with placement at the one feeder, the one that needed protection the most! There is a small gap between the corner of my house and the maple tree where my feeder was mounted. The oil pipe, for deliver of heating fuel, is right at that corner, and the electric meter is on the other side of the corner. I didn't want to chase off the meter reader or the oil delivery man. On top of those two problems, there are bushes on either side of the maple tree. When the wind moved the bushes it tripped the sprayers. I had to give up on using it for protection, there. It was chasing the cats away, but it was chasing the birds, as well!
What to do? Well, if you have looked at my weather cam, you may have noticed that the feeder is no longer visible in the home location. I bought a shepherd's hook and moved the feeder away from that corner. Click preset number 5 to view in the weather cam. This will give the birds a bit more of a chance, the cats cannot pounce from behind the tree.
I am really liking the Wingscapes camera again. I was getting real tired of looking at thousands of pics from the bird feeder, now I look forward to viewing the videos from the birdbath. I don't get near as many, they are all different and all my favorite birds show up in the videos. The goldfinch, mockingbirds and cardinals all like to take an occasional drink, while some of the house sparrows like to bathe, as well. But the robins make my favorite videos, they really seem to enjoy their baths!