CONTROLLING BIRDS IN OPEN SPACES

Patent pending Bird Buffer™ by GBS, Inc., controls birds in open air spaces, indoors and outdoors, with a fraction of the cost of netting or spikes.

When Gary Crawford raised homing pigeons and raced them, he would take them 200 miles from their home and, invariably, they would beat him home to their cage. One year after closing the cages, they were still coming back. “They remembered their home location from 200 miles away and continued to test the area for moving back in. I learned then that birds have great memories,” Crawford explains.

How fitting that 40 years later Crawford, owner of CITC, an award-winning special effects company, used his knowledge of birds to build a machine that would deter birds from open spaces. “In CITC, we manufacture specialty machines to create haze, wind, smoke and other special effects for the entertainment industry,” says Crawford. “In fact, we have the largest selection of haze machines in the world.” Crawford's knowledge of haze, fog and air currents encouraged him in the development of a smaller particle machine, which uses MA, the bird repellant fluid for the bird control industry. Crawford founded GBS, Inc. to produce a small particle machine that would create a haze that encourages birds to fly to new roosting areas.

The issue of bird control originally had taken hold in the 1940’s when the original “porcupine wire” bird spikes were invented by Charles Kaufmann, of Nixalite. But flying and migratory birds in open air spaces are another story. Now showing at Pest World, the Bird Buffer is available for inspection and questions of other successful installations at the Orlando, FL center.

It wasn’t until Nov. 16, 1994 that a harmless grape food flavoring called Methyl Anthranilate (MA) was found to deter birds without harming them by stimulating a nerve only found in birds. Once registered by the EPA and the FDA, it was swiftly employed in turf sprayers, crop sprayers and in fogging equipment under the name, Rejex-it®.

The MA would stimulate the trigeminal nerve in the mucus membrane only found in birds. The Rejex-it was effective when ingested, but there were a few problems that were out of human control. Rain or heavy dew could wash the spray away, requiring a new application. The exposure to ultraviolet sunlight would cause the product to deteriorate. Depending on the whims of Mother Nature, the fogging or spraying method required more manual labor and lots of fluid. Birds could outsmart visual fog and return as soon as it was gone.

Being familiar with the habits of birds helped Gary Crawford in his research to get a better response from birds by reducing the amount of fluid consumption, vaporizing the fluid and keeping it fresh throughout the day. “We used to wonder why the birds didn’t leave, until they started flying through the nano-sized particles floating in the air. Then we realized it was their breathing faster when flying that caused the birds to become stimulated enough to want to leave.” Crawford said. “So we developed automation for short output duration for the flying birds.”

GBS, Inc. took on the challenge and created Bird Buffer™, a machine that converts the liquid Rejex-it into tiny nano-particles which, when blown into the air at 90 mph, create an invisible haze that stays suspended in the air for about 6 hours. Because the machine is set on a timers to dispense the haze periodically, the effectiveness as a bird deterrent is constantly fresh, but only when the birds are active. Also because of the tiny size of the particles created by Bird Buffer, the scent of grapes is mild and pleasant. When used indoors, the Bird Buffer haze is just enough to stimulate birds to leave, but not bother people, animals or workers in the facility.

The Bird Buffer system is the only flying bird deterrent of its type in the world. It has proven to work, and it is extremely cost-effective. Because it works on a timer, labor is minimized. The Bird Buffer only uses one gallon of Rejex-it to keep up to a 5 acre area 96% bird free each month. That ’s quite a savings of money and time.

Bird Buffer is available from several outlets. See it first hand at the Nixalite booth.