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Depending on where you live and where your vehicle resides, you might feel the unusual experience of birds pooping all over the side mirrors and even pecking at them too. I never thought that this issue existed until I experienced it myself final Summer.

When my truck was parked in Northern California, I never had this experience; possibly the occasional bird poop getting on the car. Nevertheless, I spent some time in Southern California and every twenty-four hours without neglect where I parked the truck, birds would constantly salvage themselves all over the side mirrors. I'd clean up the mess and certain enough the very next twenty-four hour period I'd come up out to the truck to find the same mess again.

I didn't understand exactly why the poop would always be all over the side mirrors and not much on the rest of the machine. Since I wasn't willing to sit exterior and wait for the birds to come and do their business, I did some research online and found that what was happening was that these birds would run into their reflection in the mirrors and believe it to be another bird.

Hither'southward an instance of such a bird in activeness on this Youtube video. The bird sees its reflection in the mirror (and in other reflective surfaces of the vehicle) and relieves itself all over the vehicle. The side mirrors seem to go targeted considering it acts as a nice perch for the bird to stand on.

How to Safely Make clean Bird Poop off your Auto

Before get-go with any of the methods I propose in this post for preventing birds from pooping on your auto, you should immediately clean bird droppings off right abroad. If left on the vehicle too long, especially sitting under the sun, the uric acrid volition compose into the articulate coat. This will leave a semi-permanent clear coat defect that can only be removed with polishing. For a more than in-depth guide to safely cleaning bird poop off your car, see this link.

Essentially what you'll want to do for cleaning bird droppings is to use a safe cleaning solution such every bit a machine wash lather or quick detailer to make clean the bird poo off with microfiber towel.

Use the microfiber towel (with cleaning solution) to wipe the bird droppings off by dragging it up and away from the surface of the vehicle. This effectively pulls the bird droppings away from the paint surface rather than dragging it forth the surface. This is why a microfiber towel works so well here; it can hold in contaminants within its fibers while wiping to minimize scratching of the paint. As well ever use a new side of the microfiber towel to wipe every fourth dimension you wipe.

How to Stop Birds from Pooping on and Pecking at your Side Mirrors

I tested several methods out to come across what would be most effective at keeping birds from pooping on the side mirrors of a car. These methods likewise deter birds from pecking at and attacking your side mirrors as well. These are all pretty easy methods to apply, just you'll take to evaluate your options considering the steps yous'd need to take every time y'all park your vehicle somewhere. Here are the methods I tested and my results from testing each one.

Method 1: Plastic Purse over the Side Mirrors

This is pretty like shooting fish in a barrel to practise and does seem to effectively go on birds away from the side mirrors. Since the birds cannot see their reflection in the side mirrors anymore, they are attracted to them. The purse besides acts equally a physical barrier then bird poo can't actually go onto the side mirror itself.

As an alternative to using a plastic pocketbook, you lot could likewise apply a sock which would concord onto the side mirror tight. This is easier than tying the bag and untying the handbag every time you park or leave your vehicle.

Method 2: Photo of Bird of Prey in Windows

This was a fun experiment to effort out. I've seen folks print out a photo of a bird of casualty and placing the film in their window to come across if this would deter birds from loitering around the side mirrors. Bird of preys are birds that chase other animals; in this case I'm using a high definition photo of the American Eagle.

I printed one photograph for each side and placed information technology behind the front windows. If you come up up to the side mirror, you tin easily see the photograph of the eagle in the side mirror reflection.

This method actually worked most of the time. With the occasional bird poop left on the side mirror when using this method, I'd say this was an easier alternative to putting bags over the side mirrors. This definitely doesn't look as strange every bit having plastic bags wrapped over your side mirrors. However, it is still a scrap of a pain to place into your window every time y'all exit your vehicle and remove whenever yous go back in to bulldoze.

Method iii: Folding in Side Mirrors

If your vehicle has folding side mirrors, then this has got to be the easiest, quickest, and most convenient option. My concern was that it may withal not work, but later trying this method, I realize that information technology was very effective at keeping birds from pooping on them.

Sometimes the easiest and most simple fix is right in front of you the whole time. I was pleasantly surprised to find out how effective this was. This is my go-to for preventing birds from pooping on my side mirrors.

The Verdict

From my experience, I found that folding in your side mirrors is the easiest and quickest way to forestall birds from pooping on the side mirrors and likely to keep them from pecking at them besides.

If your vehicle doesn't have folding side mirrors, then I'd probably recommend using a pair of socks to slide over the side mirrors whenever your vehicle is parked. The alternate options of placing a bird of casualty photo inside of the windows or tying a plastic bag over the side mirrors is likewise cumbersome to follow through with, even if they are generally effective at preventing birds from pooping on your side mirrors.