The other morning, I bent down to fill up Roger’s bowl of food as I was preparing to leave for work. His food and water are located in our garage just a few steps away from the door to the inside.
Just as I was closing the canister back up, I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye and it gave me quite a start.
You know how it is. You THINK you saw something but you’re not quite sure what it is.
So, I whipped around and there he was looming. Just then I remembered: “Oh, yeah, Oswald the Owl is resting in the rafters of our garage as he takes his annual winter break.”
But, soon, this year’s break will be over and it will be time for him to go back to work.
Oswald is our plastic owl/small bird deterrent. And quite honestly, he is one of the best $10 purchases we have ever made.
About five years ago, we were having a real problem with small birds nesting under our screened in porch out back. The screened-in porch is on the main level of our house, which means it hangs over the patio on the lower level, looking out over the back yard.
The small birds would nest over that patio and make a tremendous mess.
They were also very tantalizing for Roger. He’d go out on the porch and race to the spot immediately over where the nests were built. He’d bob and weave; he’d sniff and he’d try everything he could imagine to get to those birds.
I would imagine, too, his presence was somewhat disconcerting for them as well. But, as troubling as Roger might have been, he was small potatoes compared to Oswald.
Actually, about the time Lisa found him in an aisle of a large discount department store near us, my dad and I had entered into discussions about some ideas for how we might deter the small birds from nesting there again. We were talking about inserting small wooden wedges along the small lip under the floor of the deck. The wedge would form a slope so steep the birds would have trouble making a nest stick.
But then, Lisa found Oswald – who was named by Holly and Paul shortly after we got him – and the rest, as they say, is history.
When you inspect him up close, it’s easy to see that he is merely a plastic replica of an owl. But if you are a small bird flying by and you have only a split second to make a life or death decision about whether to pause or keep on flying, you just can’t take that chance. It’s much preferable to go on down into the woods and nest somewhere much more secluded.
With his piercing amber eyes and life-like horns, he’s a very good likeness. And thus, Oswald has earned his keep and then some.
Each spring, we deploy him using a line of monofilament tied to a hook secured to the wooden planks of the deck. There, he sways gently in the breeze, spinning slowly back and forth as if to keep watch on the entire back yard and wooded area at the edge of our lot.
And since he began ‘flying’ above the patio and below the screened-in porch, there have been no nesting incidents!
Soon, he will begin his annual flight – probably by the end of this month. And then I won’t have to worry about any more early morning frights as I fill the food bowl…
At least not for another nine months…
JG
Originally posted 2/7/2012
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