Serious issues with feces droppings - Not a joke

Throughout night, morning or day whatever you may.. Birds seem to stop in - sit on the sideview mirror or door sill and poop their guts out. This basically results in a heavy stream of $hit down the front doors right below the mirrors, if not caught on time as you can imagine this basically cakes itself on there.

At first I figured $hit happens.. but this has become unbearable where I am out there at least once a day wiping off the doors.. I have no idea what this bird ate or has been eating but I am looking to see does anyone else have this issue? I searched online and seen results about 'blueish' vehicles having similar issue because the bird thinks its water due to the sun reflectance.. however both of our cars are black.

Hoping anyone has any suggestions, I even put some double sided tape on the side view mirror where they sit to deter but with no luck. I'm running out of Spray Nine and rags to keep wiping this off.. please help!

 

Maybe you could set a fake raptor or cat on the hood(s)

 

What is a raptor? I honestly thought about getting one of those fake Owls.. but I'm almost embarrassed to set it on the vehicle lol.. plus id need 2.. Wonder how close of a vicinity this would need to be to frighten these birds.

 

It's the reflection in the window or mirror they see... Thinking it's another bird trying to invade their territory... If you watch him he will keep attacking the window/mirror trying to get rid of the "other bird" ... You should be seeing a bunch of marks on the window or mirror where he keeps attacking it...

A pellet gun will end it...

 

A raptor is a bird of prey. So owl, hawk, etc. Somewhere nearby where the birds can see it. In a different scenario, a place where I worked had a goose problem. They bought a fake coyote. Zero geese afterward.

 

First, please (!) tell me you're kidding - that you know what a raptor is. Hint, it's not an overpriced Ford ;-)
Second, the fake raptors or other predators do really work... for a while. There's a power line about 6' above the spot where my Land Cruiser parks. Birds hate Land Cruisers. The plastic owl deterred them for several weeks. Then, I guess they got used to him. I tossed a 4' rubber snake over the power line. That worked for another few weeks. I think you have to mix it up - keep them on the toes... or claws.

 

I have used a plastic owl to keep them off my deck railing. It worked pretty well, just got blown off sometimes. I wonder if a small raptor or hawk, one for each mirror, that you just put on and took off each time you parked/drove, would be practical. Never seen one but there might be something out there.

 

I also looked up smells/oils that deter birds. Peppermint essential oil, garlic, cayenne pepper, citrus oils are all deterrents. But I wouldn't apply anything to the paint directly. Put it in something (soaked cotton balls in a baggie or food container with holes poked in it?), and put that near the place where they sit, such as your mirror. Make it so they need to step on it in order to do the poo ;-)

 

That sucks. Use a ceramic coating like Cerakote.
Beyond that:
Sprinkler on a timer or enjoy the patina. :/

 

Pellet gun should work just fine

 

Yes a pellet gun will end it, don't be the idiot who tries to shoot a bird off of his mirror...

 

Adopt an outside cat

 

Bird spikes on the mirror. Sure it's a little Mad Max looking but it'll keep them off!

 

Yeah, pellet gun could be bad for the truck. Plus, I don't think OP is observing the crime in action, just dealing with clean-up afterward.

 

I saw those, too, but how to implement?

 

Try applying vaseline on the side mirror, making it slippery and hard to land on.

 

You need raptor lights

 

Get some of those frost/snow covers for your mirrors. I had it happen once, got a pair of the covers and that solved it. They come in handy in the winter, too.
Amazon has them for cheap. https://www.amazon.com/Rearview-Protection-Exterior-Accessories-Universal/dp/B07Y9W3T5Y?crid=U95TSMZ12OEU&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.BnetuXC-eUY6YsiE9-M81QOZiS7JFO7T8L3phe0_A7dKONyhjBdA1ri9_75mjyUi5gD_ZFZ8Q_LUSOhwGyIVk4_4qgLEC-JSViv2F3ih1yhuwI3EXTNYBift7HVFWk3G7PHB0XtPa5Sd8-9X43wpV5Jjz412_Xo-q5vqMX9pIUJZAwWrLSee2o9AotbHM-oeEP1AjtaGnwIhQh-MJmIz2yaXh9-HTpgJWvSWEjYUbduVOoZg2F_zJkhcMI9CVLablfSfjua3X-l1DUffoe5ZjyuyLcGepfBe3mWIXSSMmWU.ryuTrX1V3WmuA3kLp60j6xVWl6-Ve94qAqLMsT01CU8&dib_tag=se&keywords=frost+guard+side+mirror+covers&qid=1715954302&sprefix=side+mirror+frost+%2Caps%2C114&sr=8-4&th=1

 

Yessir. This has been a problem for me now at two different houses, but was limited to Spring only. First was a homicidal Northern Cardinal who would see his reflection in my door glass and sideview mirrors and kept pecking at both--plus crapping as much as possible down the side of my car (territorial behavior so I've read). Now at our new house, I'm again seeing crap down the side of my car, but from a much smaller bird.

I started parking away from any trees or shrubs where birds like to hang out and that seems to have worked for me. Additionally, you can drape a couple of hand towels over your sideview mirrors so the birds can't see their reflection. At one point, I went so far as to position bath towels to cover up both side view mirrors and the door glass, then anchor the towels by closing the doors on them.

Again, hoping either trick works for you but this is likely just a "Spring thing".

TimG

 

just cover them with a plastic bag from the grocery store .

 

I wonder if putting a picture of a raptor on the driver & passenger inside glass would help?

 

Have robins that do this to my Tundra at certain times of the year and have tried the owl, which worked for a short time, Finally went with putting a strip of aluminum foil in between the window and window frame. I ripped off a piece of standard aluminum foil, folded it over several times and sandwiched it in the window frame close to the mirror. Fairly certain with the tint he is pecking at his reflection. The birds not do it on the back glass, Only on the front windows at the mirrors.

 

Fold the mirrors in and see what happens.

 

I too have started notice this as an issue in the last couple of weeks. I started keeping a spray bottle of water and a sponge in the vehicle to clean the sh!t off when it happens. I didn't want to have to drape something over the mirrors, so I thought, why not just try folding the mirrors in so that the birds can't see themselves anymore. We'll see if that works.

KTJO Power Folding Mirrors For 4Runner would be handy in this situation.
https://www.ktjo4x4.com/collections...ng-mirrors-metal-for-toyota-4runner-2014-2023

 

OMG that’s weird, and it would piss me off, that birds are actually camping out on your side mirrors WTF? I usually just have to deal with the increased probability of bird crap if I park under a tree (and certain trees are worse hang out spots than others).

For general better defenses (and it makes cleaning things off the paint easier) I would recommend ceramic coating.

 

No trees around me really. But I do see marks on my window - so the fact he’s pecking at himself makes sense.

so I need to cover both the side view mirror and actual door window? I can throw towels or something over the side view but now gotta get the main window covered too? lol.

wife won’t let me go the pellet route and also I’m not the best shot either so this could end bad for the truck before the bird..

 

It's easier/better to ask for forgiveness than it is permission... What she don't know won't hurt her... Just saying... Wait till he lands somewhere else besides the truck..

 

Maybe try covering just the mirrors at first and see if that helps any. Another member suggested plastic shopping bags which I think would be a lot better idea than my towel idea (we don't get plastic shopping bags in NJ any more).

Nothing wrong with trying an iterative approach; start with the most simple solution first, and if that doesn't resolve it, move into the next idea Let us know what worked for you

TimG