Dalen SOL-R Action Large Solar Fake Owl Decoy to Scare Birds Away - 18" Tall - 360º Rotating Head

We built a pool with a cascade waterfall in Las Vegas (desert) so we were visited by a couple dozen pigeons and black birds everyday with the accompanying mess. I didn't want the unsightly spikes or sticky goop around the pool so I thought I would try a predator replica. The idea of the solar powered head on a horned owl seemed like a good concept.The owl is about 1 1/2 ft tall, very life-like in looks and size. There is nothing to do to get it started, just remove the tag and stand it in the yard.The slightest light in the morning gets it going and it is active until the last light in the evening. The head always rotates in the same direction (doesn't matter) on intervals that vary from about 15 seconds to about 2-3 minutes. The rotations can be from a partial turn to several complete revolutions. Very unpredictable which adds to the realism.It makes a slight audible click when the rotation starts. I thought this might be an issue by alerting the birds it was about to move but just the opposite occurs. In case the bird might not be looking toward the owl when it starts it's movement the click gets the bird's attention assuring the bird will see it.The first birds to arrive after I put it by the waterfall stopped their dive into the yard to land on a privacy wall around the pool area. There was a lot of head tilting as they checked it out to see if it was real or not. As soon as it moved it's head the birds took off in all directions as fast as they could go. The birds returned to sit on the perimeter wall everyday for a few weeks. Sometimes one brave bird in the flock would land to "test the waters" but as soon as the head turned they all scrammed like somebody fired a load of buckshot at them.. The test visits came less and less frequent until, after a couple months, they stopped altogether. We have not had ANY birds in the yard this entire summer even though I can see them in the neighbors' yards.I did not mount it on a stake as the instructions suggests. Instead I filled it with about 10 lbs of sand through an opening in the bottom to give it some weight. This allowed me to move it to different parts of the yard every so often. I did move it a couple times a week at first but have found that now that the birds are convinced it's real I only move it once a month or so.The problem birds that I had to deal with in my neighborhood were pigeons, crows, and blackbirds. They have NEVER returned to the water and stopped flying over the house after the first few weeks.A great item.

I had some friends years ago who used to keep an owl statue near their in ground swimming pool, to keep ducks from landing in the pool. And it worked well. This owl statue is even better, because the head rotates. When the little solar panel gets sun, the head rotates every 2 minutes and makes a fairly loud clicking noise. The head even moves around if it gets somewhat windy. It's sort of like a bobble-head, and it doesn't take much for the head to move. I understand there's people on here writing negative reviews and showing pictures of a bird sitting in the same vicinity as the owl. I have a large deck and it's surrounded by bushes and fairly large arborvitaes. I would constantly have at least 50+ birds in the trees and bushes in the morning & evening. They were extremely loud, especially when the sun comes up. My deck was constantly coated with bird poop, hence the reason I purchased this owl. Fast forward to 3 months later....I'm a Believer! I haven't had bird poop on my deck in a few months now. Sure, a bird does land in the trees around my deck on occasion, but then it sees the owl or hears the clicking noise and it takes off. It took about a month for the birds to completely clear out, so give it a chance. They come back to their home trees, and eventually keep noticing a predator (the owl), so they stop coming. I still get the occasional bird, but it doesn't stay long, and that's much better than the 50+ birds. So don't believe the negative reviews. If you need to get rid of birds, this thing really works! It's even quite durable. It's lightweight, and has taken a few spills off my deck railing due to strong winds. It's fallen about 6 feet on at least 3 occasions & the head came off a couple times, but it simply pops right back on. There's a 1 3/4" diameter hole in the bottom, and I plan on mounting the owl to my deck using some PVC pipe & a floor flange. Definitely glad I purchased this and I would highly recommend it.