Stop Pooping on my Boat

Cease Bescumbering our Vessel with Avian Ordure. 

In Texas we have lots of birds year round due to the warm weather. I accept them and enjoying their sighting, but just not their poop on my boat or dinghy or vehicles. Come migratory season the drenching of ordure on our pier and boat is unrelenting. We choose not a fimicolous lifestyle.

When Bud was healthier and we were living on the boat more, my morning and evening ritual before walking the dogs for their bathroom breaks was to clean off the bird poop on the pier. I stop at multiple sections and use their hoses to clean off the pier as the dogs waited patiently. I did not want to track bird poo and disease onto our boat and especially not in the cabin.

Oh lordy can those cranes leave a mess. I never worried about the ducks fecal remains since they never came on the pier with the retrievers around. Smart ducks. Recently the ducks began resting in the end of the pier and leaving the large excreta. Yuck. Which I refuse to allow Whitley, golden retriever, to play tag with the ducks on the pier until the dejection is removed.

Now upon returning to our boat, everything is covered in white, grey, purple, and green cement feculent. Pressure washing the pier is the only way to remove most of the crap. We have each boater using their brilliant minds to outwit a bird's brain. With everything from fake snakes and owls, to swinging CDs, and even swinging metal wands on the boom, some work for certain species but not all. Stringing up fishing line works great if you do not plan on coming to your boat every weekend. 

Luckily pelicans or eagles do not stay in our marina. No fear so far of the massive weight of the big birds on our boat, but I have seen Osprey bend a windex or two.  I do miss the little quaker parakeets in our marina.  We never saw any of their squirt.

How many ways did I say shit?

Whitley will work for carrots and praise to keep the birds away too.

Besides being visual disgusting, the disease and parasites that they leave behind should encourage the marina to do a better job at keeping the birds away. The cones on the pilings work very well, but need to be on all the pilings not just on our pier.

Recently witnessed a heron kill and eat a baby duck that I feed.  I am deeply sickened since I did not know they ate baby birds. In honor of the baby Maillard ducks, 

• Bird Damage

Birds and their droppings can carry over 60 diseases

When it comes to birds, there may be more than just avian flu to be worried about. It has been suggested that there are over 60 other diseases that birds and their droppings can carry. The problem is especially worrisome in residential areas, as many of them are airborne and can be transferred to humans just by being around droppings. 

Chicken farms can be fairly easily secured. With a combination of visual scare devices, sonic distress call emitters, ultrasonic disrupters and roost inhibitors other birds shouldn't be a problem. If farmers just took this preventative action it could help contain the bird flu outbreak a good deal. 

Examples of transmissible bird diseases associated with pigeons, geese, starling and house sparrows:

• Histoplasmosis is a respiratory disease that may be fatal. It results from a fungus growing in dried bird droppings.

• Candidiasis is a yeast or fungus infection spread by pigeons. The disease affects the skin, the mouth, the respiratory system, the intestines and the urogenital tract, especially the vagina. It is a growing problem for women, causing itching, pain and discharge.

• Cryptococcosis is caused by yeast found in the intestinal tract of pigeons and starlings. The illness often begins as a pulmonary disease and may later affect the central nervous system. Since attics, cupolas, ledges, schools, offices, warehouses, mills, barns, park buildings, signs, etc. are typical roosting and nesting sites, the fungus is apt to found in these areas.

• St. Louis Encephalitis, an inflammation of the nervous system, usually causes drowsiness, headache and fever. It may even result in paralysis, coma or death. St. Louis encephalitis occurs in all age groups, but is especially fatal to persons over age 60. The disease is spread by mosquitoes which have fed on infected house sparrow, pigeons and house finches carrying the Group B virus responsible for St. Louis encephalitis.

• Salmonellosis often occurs as "food poisoning" and can be traced to pigeons, starlings and sparrows. The disease bacteria are found in bird droppings; dust from droppings can be sucked through ventilators and air conditioners, contaminating food and cooking surfaces in restaurants, homes and food processing plants.

• E.coli. Cattle carry E. coli 0157:H7. When birds peck on cow manure, the E. coli go right through the birds and the bird droppings can land on or in a food or water supply.

Besides being direct carriers of disease, nuisance birds are frequently associated with over 50 kinds of ectoparasites, which can work their way throughout structures to infest and bite humans. About two-thirds of these pests may be detrimental to the general health and well-being of humans and domestic animals. The rest are considered nuisance or incidental pests. 

A few examples of ectoparasites include:

• Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) may consume up to five times their own weight in blood drawn from hosts which include humans and some domestic animals. In any extreme condition, victims may become weak and anemic. Pigeons, starlings and house sparrows are known to carry bed bugs.

• Chicken mites (Dermanyssus gallinae) are known carriers of encephalitis and may also cause fowl mite dermatitis and acariasis. While they subsist on blood drawn from a variety of birds, they may also attack humans. They have been found on pigeons, starlings and house sparrows.

• Yellow mealworms (Tenebrio molitor), perhaps the most common beetle parasites of people in the United States, live in pigeon nests. It is found in grain or grain products, often winding up in breakfast cereals, and may cause intestinal canthariasis and hymenolespiasis.

• West Nile Virus while West Nile is technically not transmitted to humans from birds, humans can get infected by the bite of a mosquito who has bitten an infected bird. The obvious lesson is that the fewer birds there are in any given area, the better. This translates into a smaller chance of an infected bird in that area, a smaller chance of a mosquito biting an infected bird and then biting a human.

Can bird droppings in the pool spread germs to swimmers?

Many germs that might be found in bird droppings can infect humans. Duck and goose droppings, in particular, might contain germs such as E. coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter, or Cryptosporidium ("Crypto" for short).

Most germs in bird droppings are killed by chlorine within minutes in a well-maintained pool.

The germ Crypto has a tough outer shell that allows it to survive for a long time in the environment. Crypto can survive for days even in properly chlorinated pools.