Wattle Birds- is there any way to shut them up?

[elusiveeditions]

Thought there might be some fresh ideas here, because I tell you- we're all out.

For the past 2 years we've had wattle birds waking us up at dawn, and it's peak squawking time now that spring has sprung.

It's the most annoying sound I've ever heard- beats a screaming baby by miles. At least you can attempt to DO something with a screaming baby. Nothing works on wattle birds, they just keep doing it. That noise waking you daily is a mild bform of torture.

Best method so far is the hose- I won't go through the almost-clinical trials I did last year, but I got it down to 2 hose-blasts and 15 mins. This year, I decided to be less insane and not let it bother me so much.

But, it's bothering me. The big male one started at 5.38am this morning and I know from my testing last year that it'll get earlier, and go for longer. Apart from 1) removing all trees and 2) an air rifle (am friggin' tempted)- has anyone had any success with getting rid of them? I can't be the only person copping this!

[imastawka]

You must have a reeeeeeeally quiet area if they annoy you that much.

I live on a main road and their 'nails on a blackboard' screech

is lost amongst the traffic noise - I don't hear them anymore

[elusiveeditions]

Yes, it's pretty quiet, that's why this horrid noise is so striking in the silence. It's no problem if you happen to be getting up that early anyway, but that's not always the case.

I so wish I could lose the noise in amongst something else. How I envy you.

[kopenhagen5]

You need to find the shrub they like and remove it.

Will be Wattle, Bottlebrush, Acacia, they also love fuchsia.

They often stick to one or two regular flowering plants but if you are surrounded by such plants, I have no answer.

Maybe get a cat. 

I love wattle birds, but understand your dilemna.

[j*oono]

Think of it as the sounds of summer arriving.  It should make you happy.

5:38 and he's telling you to get up.  Early morning is the most peaceful  and beautiful time of the day in spring.

[chameleon54]

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@kopenhagen5 wrote:

You need to find the shrub they like and remove it.

Will be Wattle, Bottlebrush, Acacia, they also love fuchsia.

They often stick to one or two regular flowering plants but if you are surrounded by such plants, I have no answer.

Maybe get a cat. 

I love wattle birds, but understand your dilemna.

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You might be joking, but it worked for us. We had the same problem with noisy minor birds outside our bedroom window at dawn, foraging in a native garden. Our son brought home a pet cat and the birds instantly disapeared. It even solved the problem of those pesky blue wrens coming up out of the river gully and hopping across our lawn.       .............

[lloydslights]

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@elusiveeditions wrote:

Yes, it's pretty quiet, that's why this horrid noise is so striking in the silence. It's no problem if you happen to be getting up that early anyway, but that's not always the case.

I so wish I could lose the noise in amongst something else. How I envy you.

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I welcome their sound amidst the constant traffic noise.  

Even though their are no grevillea bushes on my property, neighbours do.  They dine there. I witnessed a pair building and now sitting on a nest in a shrub 6 metres from my "viewing platform".

Of course you could move.  But there could be something far worse in the "noiseworks" section of the orchestra of life.   Like a mopoke, of whose sound I go to sleep.

DEB

[para-slights]

We get woken up by the birds around us - a pee wee that attacks the bed room window, a flock of corellas that hang out in the trees and a myriad of other birds, but I welcome it over our old place where we where woken up by a constant, non stop chorus of neighborhood dogs barking (the smaller breeds being the most annoying)

[moonflyte]

I love birdsong, any kind, we have a family of Kookaburras here and the Rainbow Lorikeets, coastal Rosella's an also Wattle birds and Magpies.

Our life on this beautiful planet would be desolate if we didn't have birds and getting a cat?? I don't agree with that under any circumstances.

[twyngwyn]

http://www.wikihow.com/Discourage-Bullying-Birds-in-an-Australian-Garden