Pest Control?

[lyle11]

There is a public park 1/2 mile from my house where I walk my dogs. It was once a dairy farm and they have restored the old house and barn. My dogs like to sniff around the barn and this summer I heard a loud, raucous bird call coming from the hayloft. Not the sound of a typical bird you might hear in a barn. It sounded similar to a Pileated Woodpecker, which I see and hear frequently in Wisconsin, but they live in the woods and I’ve never heard of one nesting or living in a barn. I figured it must be some bird I’m not familiar with.

I continued to hear the bird sound periodically when we walked by the barn and I was there one night after dark and heard it. I thought that was odd because most birds roost after dark and typically only make noise if disturbed. The interior of the barn is not illuminated at night. The barn is locked so there was no way to look inside.

I heard this bird periodically all summer and fall and still hear it. One day recently, I decided to hang around outside near the source for awhile. I never heard any sound of wings and noticed that, although birds make repetitive sounds, this sound was exactly the same every time and came from the same corner of the hayloft. It repeats about once every minute. I’ve concluded it has to be a recording on a loop to keep pigeons and pests out.

There is a lot of stuff on the internet with ultrasonic noise or owl decoys with motion sensors that emit a sound to repel rodents. From what little I have read, even if it works initially, the rodents get used to it and learn to ignore it. But I never heard of using a sound that is not mimicking a bird of prey but in this case a noisy bird sound played very frequently.

It just made me think if anyone here has ever had any success with these types of pest control methods. I have a farm in Wisconsin with an old shed. I close the place down in October and return in April. I had to secure shovels, rakes, etc. to the wall or they would be knocked to floor in when I returned in the spring. Cabinets would be opened if not secured. Raccoons and red squirrels I’m pretty sure are the culprits. I know that if I had to listen to this bird sound every minute 24 hours a day I wouldn’t be hanging around for long. I wonder if something like this would be a deterrent to rodents or raccoons.

Thanks