Nite Guard Solar owl deterrent

[Mitch Booth]

Just wanted to get opinions on these flashing red lights in order to deter owl predation.

Mitch

[avesrun]

Hi Mitch can't speak from experience but I'm considering them too. From what I can tell, the jury's still out, but overall a lot of landlords have told me they use them and haven't had attacks. Apparently they work best on sites if you get them up PRIOR to having an owl attack and are less effective once an owl has already successfully landed on a setup. I've heard quite a few landlords speak favorably overall and bottom line for me is that I've never heard of the Nite Guard being any kind of a problem. I may get a couple; they're on my birthday list for March

[Cheryl S]

This is only my 3rd year to host purple martins, but I used the Nite Guard lights last year along with loud static on outdoor speakers pointed toward the gourd racks over night. I also have tunnels on all gourds. There are barred and great horned owls in our area. I had no predation last year. My thought is that a little redundancy is a good thing. I am adding the stainless steel owl guards this year.
Good luck'
Cheryl

[KathyF]

I have heard mixed stories on them. One of my landlords in Troy, MO sent me an email 2 years ago - had the nite guard lites up and a GHO started attacking his colony anyway.
Doesn't hurt to try them, I suppose, but the absolute best protection is a cage or guards.
I would suggest that if people are going to put up lights, guards, etc., that they also monitor their colony to ensure the precautions they put in place are really working.
I didn't really see anything around my colony when a GHO was attacking, except the one owl feather that was over 200' away in my driveway. "Not seeing anything" doesn't mean an owl is not visiting was a huge lesson last year for me.

[Chuck4]

I am using them. It's my second year. Last year was successful. We'll see how it goes this year. I have them mounted about 18 inches above the gourds.

[~Ray~Gingerich]

Mount them on top of your rack like Chuck mentioned aimed in 4 different directions. Only one time did I find evidence of an owl when young were roosting outside on an unprotected rack but never on one with lights.

[avesrun]

Hello Ray: I take it this means ideally a person needs to purchase 4 of the Nite Guard units for each rack? I will have two poles approx. 30 ft. apart

Thanks. TimG

[Chuck4]

Mount them on top of your rack like Chuck mentioned aimed in 4 different directions. Only one time did I find evidence of an owl when young were roosting outside on an unprotected rack but never on one with lights.

I forgot to mention that I do use 4 of them (N,S,E and W-slightly WNW orientation so as not to peg my neighbors ). They are at a height of about 16 feet when the rack is up. So far I have had no evidence of an owl attack. I do actively monitor. Last year at dusk I saw a hawk/small owl fly towards the rack from the north and the bank sharply off at the height of the guards. I would like to think it was the Nite Guard that startled it. Never saw it again. I also realize they don't always work depending on the situation. But I consider them to be working so far.

Here's my set-up (Nite Guards at top):

[~Ray~Gingerich]

Hello Ray: I take it this means ideally a person needs to purchase 4 of the Nite Guard units for each rack? I will have two poles approx. 30 ft. apart

Thanks. TimG

Tim, since I have eleven racks it would take a lot of lights to cover everything completely. I have my racks in straight line so I place the lights on every other unit with the ones in between protected with wire.
Here is a picture showing part of it. I found the owl feather on unit to the right on the side away from the lights.

[Matt F.]

I hope she doesn't mind, but I'm posting another recent testimonial from JeanS., about the effectiveness to of the Nite Guard units at her site:

Those black boxes are called Night Guard Protectors.
They are suppose to simulate an eye and makes a predator nervous about being watched so they leave the area.

Jean,
Do these things actually work? From the information I have gathered it seems split in half if they work or not.



A.P.

A.P., thank you for sharing your knowledge about the Night Guard Protectors. I didn't know what they are called and Bert didn't have time last night to log on and explain.

We had a great horned owl that visited at night quite often. It would hang from a gourd flap like crazy to try to make a P.M. fly out. So Bert did a lot of reading to find out how to deter Owl predation.

For 3 or 4 years, he put speakers on the tops of the racks and played the radio between stations to make a White Noise. The thought was that the White Noise made it hard for owls to locate the Purple Martins. That seemed to help a lot, as we had less owl attacks. But Bert kept researching.

Then he found the Night Guard Protectors. They are solar powered and each side of the little black box has a tiny red light that starts blinking at dusk. It is inconspicuous, but it seems to work because I don't think we have had an owl on the gourd racks since installation. We have seen the owl in the tree and on top of our house, but not on the rack for at least 4 years. Sadly, I can't remember exactly what year they were installed.

When neighbors or friends ask about the blinking lights, we like to joke that it is so airplanes see the racks and not accidentally fly into them. I've been trying to come up with a funnier line. They already think we are half crazy, so maybe I will start saying we are trying to communicate with life on other planets.

Bert is a trooper!
I'd bet he would've sat out there every night with a flashlight while the Martins were nesting, if that's what it would've taken to keep the owls away.

[KathyF]

Probably safe to say, "depends on whether your owl is an over-achiever or not and whether he was beat up often as a kid by his siblings and peers and decided to rise to the occasion or become a shrinking violet".
I have determined that my GHO is a type-A personality and was raised by parents who told him he could do anything and be anything in this world that he wanted to be. He never learned the meaning of being assertive - he's just down right aggressive and has no manners. He is the type of personality that would find the blinking red lights provide him with a nice landing strip.

[avesrun]

Thanks Chuck and Ray et al.. I think for this year with not having an established colony, I will get one or two lights and face them in different directions. if I get lucky and get Martins, then I'll go all out with cages the following year. There are both Barred and great horned owls in my area. The Great Horned Owl is nesting at this time in Iowa and I've had them hooting around my house which means most likely I have a nest close by.

[~Ray~Gingerich]

Tim, I have both of those owls in our area. I hear them late at night, sometimes in the distance and other times right behind my place,I took a walk back there just last week and spotted a GHO in a tree, then 2 days later heard a barred owl close by, now that's a frightening call. I think no matter where you are there will be owls within hooting distance.

Just a thought...since you are only getting 2 lights, maybe you can glue a small mirror to one side or bottom and reflect some of the light for more coverage?? I never tried it so don't know if it would work or not.

[db]

I have had four of these up for several years. They don't work at my house.

[~Ray~Gingerich]

db, can you elaborate? Where and how did you have them placed? how many and were you already under predation when installed. Thanks.

[birdy girl]

I agree with Kathy. Owls get used to whatever you use trying to deter them. An active martin colony equals food to the owls. We have tried a radio, scarecrows. They wait and watch from a distance. Sometimes you have to look for the evidence of their success. Occasionally a feather in or around the colony, on top of fence posts and around the posts, under tree limbs or on the ground under trees. If they have been successful at your site, they will come back. Now cages and lights may make them hesitant and even deter an owl passing through. But if you have a resident owl, he will overcome the newness of whatever you use to try to run him away.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

We have a whole lot of barred owls, so I tried the Nite guard lights. I put them up about 4ft above the gourd rack, had 4 lights facing in 4 different directions (90 deg). During the night, I got a spotlight to look for owls, and on top of the gourd rack sat an owl, the owl was sitting directly below the lights and about 4ft under the lights on the same pole as the lights. I wanted them to work very much, but they just did not work for me.

I agree with some of the posts above, the lights may work best at new colonies that have never had owl predation.

[Chuck4]

I consider myself as still collecting data on the effectiveness. I do have owls nearby. Last year in April I spotted a large Barred owl sitting on my neighbor's rooftop. It looked as large as a little kid sitting up there. I know it could hear the martins. It was before I had the nite guards. I scared it off with my flashlight. I have heard an owl hooting in the distance at night too. So I know they are aware of my colony. Will follow closely.

[Chris B]

PBS recently had a show on owls. Very interesting. Know your enemy! They are incredible predators.

http://aptv.org/episodes/30716/Nature/Owl-Power/

[taxidermy lady]

I watched a show on channel 9 Sunday evening and it was about owls and what sly predators they are. They had high tech microphones in a line and had a pidgeon fly across them. It was very noisey when they flapped their wings and also a hawk which made noise. When the owl swooped over the microphones it never made a flapping sound at all. Nothing hears them coming at night! It was very interesting. Good luck to all!