Any tips on discouraging mockingbirds, things that you know for sure work? Please help! The internet is full of unproven ideas. It is the baby mockingbirds that I have a problem with, but to not have the babies, you have to keep away the nesting adults. Every second of every daylight minute, the baby mockingbird gives off a very loud, shrill shriek. (Go to YouTube and search under baby mockingbird for a sample of this little bit of hell. Do not watch the video and be swayed by the cuteness. Just listen. Besides, the cuteness is gone by the time the birds are out of the nest. I can't see them in the nest. The cuteness is irrelevant. They are a little more shrill in real life than they come across in the videos. Imagine that every daylit second for five months.) This goes on for about three weeks per brood and there have been six broods so far this year. Yes, six! I've been listening to this shrieking, and sometimes it can be heard in the house, since mid March and it is now late August. The latest baby is out of the nest and is full grown, but fledged babies will shriek and continue to be fed for, I'm guessing, two weeks.

The shrieking is driving me crazy. Crazy as it may seem, it has impacted my quality of life. I can't even enjoy my own yard and I have to go out and water. So far, all I can do is listen to my iPod with noise-cancelling headphones. Projectiles of any kind are out of the question. The neighbors' houses are too close. No other house in the neighborhood has mockingbirds. We take walks five times a week since January and have never heard or seen one except in our yard or an adjacent yard. We go through what could be the territory of many mockingbirds. Their range is not very large, about one or two acres.

I don't know what one could do short of climbing the tree and simply tearing up the nest. Which I think is illegal on any of our native birds. But it's your yard so who's gonna know? I think eventually if you did that they would get discouraged and move on to live somewhere else.

We have torn down three nests this year. (As I understand it, it is legal to tear down an empty nest.) They just go and rebuild across the street, which is not far enough away from the shrieking. We can hear them in our backyard when they are across the street. We can hear them in the house when they are across the street. The only common thing in our neighborhood that is louder than a baby mockingbird is the trash truck and the leaf blower of the gardener of the house behind us. Frankly, I'd rather listen to the trash truck or the leaf blower. I would say that baby mockingbirds are as loud as kids at recess and much more shrill and monotonous.

I don't know what else could be done.

They nest regularly outside our window. We don't mind them though. Much better than any of the normal urban noises IMHO. I met someone once who only lasted 6 months on the farm he bought. He couldn't take all of the crickets as they kept him up at night. He's more comfortable with ambulances, garbage trucks banging dumpsters, etc. Sorry I don't have a solution for you either.

We get crickets here, and they don't bother me. Cicadas don't bother me, though the first time I heard one I thought that there was a short in the electrical wire to the house. Western cicadas do not sound like eastern cicadas. I've never seen one, but I think the western ones are smaller. I'll take everything except the neighbors' loud D.J. parties over baby mockingbird. I am extra sensitive to noise. I cannot take hearing other people's music or shrieking baby mockingbirds.

DH is thinking about getting a mechanical owl. He wonders if it will be a waste of money, but we are at wit's end. I've read all kind of stories on the internet about people having problems with mockingbirds. It seems like the only universally effective solution is to shoot them. I can't do that in city limits.

So sorry about the loud birds!!

Kelli said: It seems like the only universally effective solution is to shoot them. I can't do that in city limits.

Sorry to add to the pile, but this would be illegal in or out of city limits.

I know.

I read once you could play a loud recording of a mocking bird and they would look for another territory

on the other hand it might just drive you away (one more mockingbird)

I would try the bird of prey decoy and maybe a prey sound too . Around here they play raptor sounds on some signs to keep roosting pigeons and sparrow ect..away


Good luck
Cinda

I would try that but DH would not want me disturbing the neighbors. He's very sensitive about that, probably because I am so easily disturbed.

I am dealing with baby mockingbirds, which are a different animal from adult mockingbirds. The sound of the adults is fine, though they are welcome to poop the seeds of trash plants in someone else's yard. We did get a mechanical owl and DH set it up near baby mockingbird's place and it did seem to shut the brat up. DH said that he didn't hear from it but I was not out. I was surprised that the baby (really a 'teenager') was smart enough to recognize a predator. DH did not hear a mockingbird this morning, though I went out with my protective equipment (iPod with noise-cancelling headphones). It is time for baby mockingbird to grow up.

Another idea might be to spray the nest with your hose every time you're out there. Got a good nozzle that really shoots a long stream? Really wet it down and tear it up if you can with the water. The birds will at least move the nest but the water most likely will not hurt anyone.

Any chance you can prune the tree/shrub they are nesting in so it's not so comfortable for them? If you can make them uncomfortable enough, they will surely go elsewhere.

DH has tried shooting water at them but it didn't work. They get in among the branches and are hard to pinpoint. We have torn down nests we could reach but they just go across the street and build another.

They nest in virtually any tree or shrub we have. If it was one tree, that would be no problem. DH has enough yard work without having to trim back every tree. Some are too high or are on too steep of a slope to get at to trim. We have a huge pile of yard waste in the yard as it is.

DH got a mechanical owl. It moves it's head. That has been helpful but we don't know how long it will work.

You know that normal birds quit nesting in July. The mockingbirds keep producing like chickens.

Take heart, Kelli! Fall seems to be falling early in So. Cal. I'm noticing a reduction in the local bird population lately. I think they're all heading to Mexico.

I actually meant to hose down the nest as often as possible - not shoot at the birds. At least it might make them build their nests further from your house in future.

We have torn down nests before. They just go and build across the street. They seem to know where our boundaries are. That is not far enough away. The babies are so loud that I can hear them in the house when they are across the street. The adults seem to recognize that DH and I are enemies. The second anyone opens the door, they fly to the property line.

This is probably an unsolvable problem. We need them to stay 200 yards away and we can't control what goes on in the neighbors' yards. Baby mockingbirds are extremely loud. I may have mentioned this before, but the only common things louder are the trash truck and a leaf blower.

Have you discussed it with your neighbors too? They might be sympathetic, and in fact the noise may bother them as well.

I haven't spoken with them about it. In fact, it has probably been a couple weeks since I've seen anyone outside. The way the lots are and with our shrubs, it is hard to see the neighbors. The people diagonally across the street I wouldn't even recognize if I saw them and they have been there for probably eight years. They have a gardener (just like everyone but ourselves) and are never out front. I'm not out front much, either. DH does the vast majority of the front yard work. It's true that people in California don't know their neighbors.