Don Disner, Business Writer
Yellow beach ball "with eyes" helps corporations better maintain buildings by scaring away birds.
Ted Armstrong, Xerox Corporation's supervisor of building systems in El Segundo, California, has had a serious duplication problem even though his job responsibilities have little to do with maintaining copy machines. His problem is with pigeons.
"It seemed that almost every day there were more pigeons on the deck around the building as well as on the loading dock," said Armstrong, "and as their numbers increased so did my headaches, especially considering the size of the facility here."
Xerox Corporation's Business Systems Division headquarters is housed in a 300,000 square foot, 16-story office building housing more than 1,000 employees within a few miles of the Pacific Ocean.
Problem first noticed two years ago
"It first started a couple of years ago when I noticed droppings all over the place, where our employees had to walk, on windows, everywhere," Armstrong explained. "These droppings were our biggest problem."
"One other problem we get from the pigeons is that when they step on the ledges outside our windows, they carry bird mites which are like little fleas. These mites come into the building, get on people, computers and keyboards. It's quite a mess. People were getting bitten and breaking out. As months went by, this just got worse and worse," Armstrong said.
Initially, he tried to solve the problem by making some plastic piping, drilling holes into the piping and putting metal rods through the holes. "We set these devices in areas where the pigeons would land and where I saw the birds trying to nest. But this didn't work. The birds just moved somewhere else," Armstrong noted.
He found his solution in a local newspaper story. "I first became aware of these things in a local newspaper article which said that these units really worked well for another local company's bird problem," Armstrong said. These "balloons" are actually products called Terror-Eyes, two-foot in diameter
balloons containing two sets of eyes that appear to move.
"In the article, a company spokesman said that with Terror-Eyes he had no more mess and the pigeons were virtually gone within days," Armstrong recalled. "I thought I would give the units a try since I desperately needed help."
Armstrong said that he initailly purchased five of the $45 units and sporadically placed them in locations "where I could scare some pigeons off." And he had amazing results.
Terror-Eyes quickly scare away pigeons:
"I would say that it was in the first three or four days that more than three-fourths of the birds vanished," Armstrong stated. He has four additional units which he plans to use, if needed, on the company signs on the roof. However, to date Armstrong hasn't had the need.
The devices are made by Bird-X, Inc., a Chicago corporation. According to chairman Richard Seid, there are now over 100,000 of the devices in operation throughout the U.S., and over 1 million have been sold in Japan. "The main distinction between Terror-Eyes and our competition is that Terror-Eyes is manufactured with holographic lenses set inside the eyes of the balloon which resembles an owl. Since the owl is naturally a predator to the birds, birds are afraid of the balloons and will stay away."
Xerox's Armstrong concurs. "From my experience here, I think it's the eyes which makes the birds go away. I believe it's an owl effect. The birds think that Terror-Eyes units are actually owls about to prey on them. No matter what angle you look at Terror-Eyes, it appears like it's looking at you," he said.
Ron Schwarcz, president of Bird-X, Inc., said research has shown that the birds believe Terror-Eyes is a predator. "They think that the device can harm them because of the moving eyes," he said. "They see those eyes following their every move and they go somewhere else."
According to Armstrong, the quantity of birds was not his main problem. The damage caused by these birds to the Xerox facility was the main problem. "Initially we had about 20 birds around our building. That might not seem like much but it sure is when their droppings start to damage a widespread area."
Devices help reduce cleaning costs:
"I'll definitely save money in cleaning costs as a result of using Terror-Eyes," Armstrong said. "Before, I had to hire a firm to come here and steam clean a large area because of the bird droppings." He said that in the two months since purchasing the Terror-Eyes units, he hasn't needed to clean the outside
areas previously covered with bird droppings.
"This is a large savings considering the fact that one steam cleaning of my terrace and driveway costs over $500.00," Armstrong noted. "I also had to fumigate two floors in the building because mites from the birds spread onto the floors. We'll save cleaning costs there, too."
The Terror-Eyes units were developed after extensive research by the Japanese. According to the manufacturer, researchers learned that the "eye-like design" on the skin of some butterflies, moths, insects, and frogs frightens birds feeding on crops. Various kinds of experiments were performed by authorized organizations of agricultural laboratories, and the experiments showed good results against bird damage.
Bird-X's Schwarcz said that the Japanese planning and design staffs succeeded in taking advantage of this effect by developing a new movable "eye-like design" using their experience with lenticular sheeting and illusive motion printing.
This idea was developed by the Tokyo metropolitan government's Agricultural Experiment Center. The device which eventually evolved into the Terror-Eyes unit was a heavy duty balloon with an optical lens that looked like a hawk eye. The eye is moved by the wind: right and left and up and down.
Farmers have long been troubled by birds like crows, sparrows, doves and gray starlings which eat their vegetables. In Japan, farmers tried anti-bird nets but the birds tore them up and ate the crops. They also tried putting up scarecrows, sounding off recorded explosions and putting out offensive smells, but they were not able to solve the problem.
Apartment dwellers, airlines and others have been troubled by bird droppings and noise created by the birds. In some cases, birds made their nests on utility poles and caused blackouts. In addition to protecting crops from the birds, the agricultural experiment center soon reported Terror-Eyes orders from wineries in France, an agricultural research center in Britain, and a military base in Switzerland.
Terror-Eyes receives prestigious award:
In fact, they worked so well that years ago Terror-Eyes captured the prestigious Tokyo Metropolitan Governor Award for the product that best scares birds away from crops.
From subterranean driveways to building rooftops, destructive birds are a challenge to any plant maintenance professional. For Dave Smith, manager of manufacturing engineering at Ontic Engineering, birds were ruining the 150,000 square foot roof of his company warehouse and offices housed in a two story building in North Hollywood, California.
"Pigeons, sea gulls and sparrows liked to eat our roof because it's a membrane roof constructed of foam and plastic materials. They would go to the nearby San Fernando Valley dump to feed, then fly to our roof in swarms and rip 12" diameter holes in the roof when cleaning their beaks," Smith stated.
The firm, which manufactures aircraft components, including hydraulic pumps, valves, and electric motors, had to hire roofers to come to the facility six times to patch up the roof. "And they didn't know how to stop the damage," Smith said. "This was really a horrendous problem we experienced for more than a year and a half."
Then an advertisement in a trade publication turned things around for Smith. "I saw an ad from Bird-X, a company which sells a line of "scare devices" for birds. I subsequently contacted the company and expressed an interest in their soundwave units. But they told me that for my problem, the balloon would get results. So I ordered ten of them which I installed about two months ago."
Problem solved quickly:
According to Smith, remarkable changes have occurred during this time. "Once I installed the Terror-Eyes units, the number of birds on the roof and subsequent damage has been minimized."
About an hour's drive from Ontic Engineering in North Hollywood, birds were also causing problems for Ray Roberts, Real Property Administrator at Roselle L. Sommer Realty, a full service property management company located in Los Alamitos, California. The 15,000 square foot pitched roof was constantly besieged by pigeons, doves, and their accompanying droppings.
"If I hadn't done something soon, the pigeon and dove droppings would have ruined the roof," Roberts said, "and that would cost us about $15,000 to $16,000 to replace."
What Roberts did was to respond to an advertisement in a property management publication after other methods failed. "After I tried using owls which didn't work, I ordered a Bird-X product which eliminates roosting areas," Roberts explained. "Once that worked successfully, I then ordered two of the Terror-Eyes which I installed three months ago."
Product gets results:
Whereas previously Roberts would estimate that 60-70 birds would flock to the area, now only a few birds can be seen, and, according to Roberts, Terror-Eyes "works wonders even on the few birds that still hang around."
"Once we clean up the area with a high pressure hose, at least we won't have to worry about the birds coming back and making a mess again now that we've found a solution," Roberts said. "Anyone who has a similar problem should use the Terror-Eyes balloons. It worked for us."
For building maintenance professionals who've experienced problems caused by our fine feathered friends, Terror-Eyes is no joke. This is definitely "for the birds!"