Are you in Illinois? I have the same problem...my friend says those arent blackbirds but "Gackles" and she gave me a guilt trip saying if I was feeding them they would not be pooping on my car, pool, deck, driveway...etc. I bought one of those plastic owls from Menards (like Home Depot if it's a regional thing) my other friend swears by them, has two... There is less poop but it did not stop them... I think it is a nesting thing...we had this problem 2 summers ago and it stopped after June. I think these poopy things are from their babies and they are trying to keep the nest clean, so they use the pool (and similar places as a litter box of sorts. Why it has to be the pool I don't know but it sure is annoying. Our other bird problem is morning doves...I think they like to sit on the coping because its warm...you should see the build up on the heater top from the winter months. One day we counted 26 of the buggers sitting around the deck railings. It was almost like a flock of pigeons.

If someone finds something that works, I sure would like to know myself. I'm going to keep moving the owl to see if that makes a difference. My friend has two, one on either side of the pool. The placement of the poop moved down, away from the owl, but it didn't stop. It is less tho- we'll see...

No, I'm in Maryland, but the explanation makes sense. The seem to fly from their nests in our Leyland Cyprus trees and drop this "poop" from their mouths. I can only hope you are right about the seasonal nature of this problem. I can put up with the cleaning if there is an end in sight. Owls seem to be a common device to scare birds off. I've even read about floating dolphins that you put in your pool. I personally never thought flipper was scary, but I'm not a bird.

Plastic owls don't work.

There is a device called The Scarecrow that connects to a garden hose. It has a battery that pwers an electric eye. If anything crosses the beam of the electric eye, the hose shoots out a stream of water. When I worked at a nursery we sold these for about $70 (over-priced!) and people said they worked. The trick is guess the flightpath of the birds!

Here are my two solutions- Google and Yahoo. Yahoo on the left has personally killed about 5 birds. All the birds in my neighborhood are afraid, very afraid!

That's hilarious mitchcarnie! Love the names. I was going to suggest the same solution. I'm going to rely on "Roxy" and "Lyla" to do the same when our pool is finished in a couple of weeks. They are a couple of hunters.

I live in a residential neighborhood with small lots. We have a 20 x 40 pool. This morning I woke up to see a pair of mallard ducks swimming from one end, turning around and swimming to the other end. Then they would get out and sun. I finally went out and just lifted the skimmer pole and the flew off. This evening they were back, so I did the same thing. I do hope they are not planning on taking up residence here.

Baby grackles produce poop in little sacks. What the birds are doing is removing these poop sacks of their young from the nest. Since they don't want predators tracing the poop sacks back to their young, they deposit them over bodies of water -- hence poop in the pool. A friend of ours is having a horrible time with them as his neighbor is actually feeding these grackles and they are nesting in her trees. He removes about 20 poops a day from his pool and he's about at the end of his rope. He says mylar balloons supposedly deter them, but they have to be high up in the air. He's at his wit's end.

After 4 days of the owl, I would say it is not the best solution, the poop is less, but not eliminated...we were in the pool and a gackle/grackle (sp?) landed on the side with poop in its mouth...they have no fear of humans to be sure!

Love the doggies-too cute with the names! My dog Bandit would not help with the birds, he's too busy growling and barking at the plastic owl.... duh, stupid!

It appears that my troubles should decrease as the baby birds leave their respective nests. My mouth poop trouble has been going on for several weeks, so it should just about be time for those little birdies to leave home (hope, hope!!)

Thanks!

Update! It appears my "mouth poop" troubles have passed. It does seem that this phenomena is seasonal. The quantity of droppings has been going down daily and is almost entirely gone at this point. My dismay with the Grackle nest cleaning behavior has been replaced with the humor of watching the young Grackles learn to fly. Harmony is restored!

Happy Swimming!!

I'm glad your bird problem turned out to be seasonal but just in case you ever face this problem again (or any bird infestation problem) I thought it might be helpful to just mention a different angle on this. The problem is not that the birds are pooping (or whatever they're doing) in your pool. That is simply a symptom of your real problem: that your environment is attractive to birds.

If you really want to keep birds from being destructive to your property you have to make it so that your land is a place they don't want to hang out on in the first place. There are a lot of different approaches to this but yes, stopping the food supply is one of them. Another would be the mylar balloons someone else mentioned up above. There are also specialized bird scare balloons with 'eyes' that follow the birds wherever they fly as well as holographic tape. These incorporate movement so they are usually more affective than static decoys.

There are other senses to attack as well: taste/smell, touch, and hearing. Birds hate methyl anthranilate (a chemical derived from concord grapes that has long been used for grape flavoring)--it gives them a similar sensation to what we feel when we encounter bleach. This comes in commercially available sprays. Also, there are sticky gels, netting, or spike strips that keep birds from roosting on certain surfaces. Lastly, there are sound devices that utilize recordings of predators/distress calls that scare birds away. For a partially or fully enclosed area you could use an ultrasonic device as well (one that can't be heard by humans but is annoying to birds and bats).

Make sure that you switch up whatever you use from time to time. If you use balloons, move the location (but always keep it near where the birds are nesting). If you're using a sound device change the interval between effects, try to randomize the effects being used. Also, using the products together in a synergistic way will create a more effective and longer-lasting reaction.

I'm glad to hear that no one has mentioned killing or injuring the birds...don't do that. As mentioned before that would be reacting to the symptoms rather than truly solving the problem. Furthermore, it would be very easy to accidentally tamper with one of the MANY birds protected by the Migratory Bird Act of 1918 (and then you'd be in big trouble).

Just a side note: be careful when cleaning up the bird poop. Birds can transmit over 60 diseases to humans. Some of them are fatal. Bird dropping particles can be unknowingly inhaled and lead to serious health problems.

Good luck in your future bird encounters!

Here is a link that might be useful: click for examples, case studies and FAQs about bird pest control

Hmmmm...I was thinking I might put up a purple martin house next summer to help with the mosquitos since they are so bad in my back yard. Would I have these sort of problems with them as well? It now doesn't sound like a good idea. :(

Here's a trick that works almost every time...whether or not it is practical or possible for your situation is another matter entirely. Running monofilament (fishing line) strung 8-10 feet above the problem area in a criss-cross pattern will effectively eliminate the birds. They can see the filament and it either confuses them or the line physically makes it impossible to navigate the area. Of course this requires some method to suspend the monofilament....not always easy to do in a aesthetically pleasing way. If you can mount the line, you'll find that it blends into the sky and you won't notice it unless you actually look for it. My parents have a townhouse in Florida and this method has been a God send. There are virtually no more birds by the pool. Perhaps if it were set up for some time it would keep the birds away long enough for them to move elsewhere and you could eventually take the fishing line down....not sure about that though...the condo association is so happy with the results that they will not take it down to test that theory. Good luck.

Rob

midtngal, I have a Purple Martin house, a three level, right beside my pool. I haven't had any problems with them at all. I also love watching them and their many antics. They're very people-friendly and we don't seem to bother them, either. I would definitely say give it a try.

Thanks cestlavie! I was hoping that would be the case. I have spent the last couple of summers, at some friends on the lake that have one, watching them. They are fun to watch. So no problems with the pool being used as a bath or toilet?

We live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada....the grackles are driving me to distraction with their poop sacks in the pool! Last year it started...they would deposit them on the edge of the pool...we washed it away and then it stopped. This year, there are about 4 nests in our Cedar hedge and they totally covered the edge of the pool. My husband was able to power wash it all away, and now that they are using the pool! UGH!!!!! We don't want to hurt the baby birds....is it true that if we simply handle the nests next year before the eggs are laid that they will not bother with coming back to that spot...I like your suggestions about making the area unattrative to the birds. We will certainly follow up with some of those suggestions next Spring. My other concern is something you brought up about diseases...is it safe to swim in the pool once the poop has been removed...we have young grandchildren who like to swim there as well. Do you have any hints to get rid of the smell of the poop from the wooden decking around the pool...thanks for your time.

I had the same problem with birds pooping on my mailbox. I found a solution to the problem. There is a product called bird-deter that you mount on your mailbox. No more birds, no more bird poop. It can be found at Bird-Deter.com YEAH!

Here is a link that might be useful: Bird-Deter.com