Conures and feral love birds

[BrianB]

I live here in Phoenix, where there is a sizable population of feral love birds. In the past I've seen them in the neighborhood, but only one or two passing overhead. The last week, I've noticed a few hanging out in my back yard. I have my breeding pairs of conures in a large aviary thats outside attached to my patio. They can't come in direct contact with each other, but the love birds have been hanging around the aviary. I don't leave seed laying around because I don't want ants, so there isn't any food available for them. Their presence gets my birds fired up and there is a whole lot of noise. When the birds outside start screaming, the sun conures inside start screaming.

The population is so large in some areas that bird rescues won't even take them if someone manages to catch them. I've also heard from local bird store owners and other breeders that you shouldn't catch them as they now carry diseases.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can encourage them to move along ?

 

[Donna turner]

I've heard putting fake predators like snakes or owls or hawks in the area may help. Never tried it so don't know if it works

 

[BrianB]

I have a plastic owl that I've used for trying to scare away pigeons. I've had mixed luck with it. I could put it above the aviary out of sight of the conures. Some pigeons ignore it, some are scared of it, so I'm not sure what the love birds would do. Anything to cut down the noise though.

 

[Birdbabe]

We have them here in Mesa also, but my birds are inside so I don't know how to discourage them. Be wary,,,the wild lovebird population has PBFD..even game and fish says not to handle them, if you find an ill one. They most likely are hanging around hoping for a free meal,,,which I do feed the wildlife, but , my birds are not outside. Maybe someone else has an idea for you.

 

[BrianB]

I moved the plastic owl over to where the aviary is. I put it to the side, out of sight for the conures, but facing the trees where I saw the love birds gathering. Hopefully it helps. I could toss a plastic snake up onto the roof and see if that helps. Unfortunately I'm afraid the heat will cause it to melt after a couple of days. I've been warned about the diseases the love birds carry. I'm not going to take the chance of spreading it to my birds, let alone getting bit by one of them. There is a guy a few miles west of me who used to breed them, and now a lot of feral ones hang out in his yard. He said he leaves his aviary open and they gather inside to feed. When enough of them are in, he closes the door and then doses each one with antibiotics before setting it free. It's a nice effort on his part, but swimming against the tide I think. I think he does it because his neighbors blame him for the flock in the neighborhood even though he says none of his ever got free. Let's see how the owl works. I move it around the yard frequently to keep the pigeons away. Hopefully it will help.