Have you ever seen the movie where Rowan Atkinson house-sits for someone and encounters a bee? And goes to great lengths to destroy it, and ends up destroying the house by the end?
We have some sparrows nesting in our eavestrough. We wouldn't mind so much, except they are right outside our bedroom and are very noisy very early in the morning. The obvious solution would be to remove the gutter guard and expose the whole length of the gutter to the elements, but we can't get onto the steep roof, and we can't afford a handyman willing to attempt it. So we've tried other approaches.
We tried blocking the gutter with chicken wire, and they pulled it out and went back to nesting inside. We offered a birdhouse as alternative housing. We tried fake owls and sonic devices. The birds sat on the owl's head and sneered at us. We sprayed the entrance with chili and vinegar. We applied WD-40 to the lip of the roof to make it slippery. We wedged chicken wire into every possible crevice. We sprayed wasp poison into the cracks. We poured bleach into the gutter. Against all conceivable odds, the happy couple got back in. This morning Mr. Sparrow sat on our window sill outside our bedroom with nest-making grasses in his beak and very clearly said, "Looky what I'm doing! Nyaa nyaa nyaa!" before flying back into the eavestrough.
Maybe we tip our hats in acknowledgement of their tenacity and admit defeat. Maybe we bring out the flame throwers. Not sure how it will go yet.
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