As we have seen in other videos, some poultry and pigeon fanciers have relied on the use of "hawk balls" and other reflective items placed around their yards to act as a deterrent against birds of prey. Many have reported some success with these methods and it is theorized that reflective surfaces may deter or startle birds of prey.
One problem for Roller fliers is that their kits fly well above these types of reflective objects.
In the following video, a pigeon fancier from the Far East (possibly India or Pakistan), who also happens to be a falconer, shows us "how to protect your pigeon from falcons" utilizing reflective tape.
In the video, he is seen carefully applying small strips of reflective or "mirror" type tape to the outer primaries and also several tail retrices of one of his flying birds. Obviously, this is based on the theory that any attacking falcon or hawk who attempts to attack the bird from above will be deterred by the reflective surfaces of the tape.
Though I have found no examples of Western pigeon fliers utilizing this method, in "Attacks by Birds of Prey on Racing Pigeons. A Report for the Confederation of Long Distance Racing Pigeon Unions of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", there is mention of the use of reflective "sequins" which were applied to some Racing Homers. The report remarks that "This method involves attaching small reflective discs (dressmakers sequins) to the plumage of the pigeon. We could find no research literature relating to this method of deterrence and their use seems to have arisen through individual experimentation by pigeon fanciers. There are two potential ways in which these deterrents may work. The first is through a repulsion effect in that a bird of prey will not approach the reflective object, in which case they can be placed anywhere on the bird where they will be visible to a predator. The second is that they could distract a bird of prey during an attack and give the pigeon a better chance of escape, in which case they need to be positioned where the distraction effect is greatest. It is possible that the prominent white wing bars seen on many bird species have evolved because they distract predators during an attack. The combination of movement and highly contrasting wing coloration may interfere with the peripheral vision of a bird of prey as it strikes. Birds of prey have both monocular and binocular visual fields; the former is important in wide angle distance vision whilst the latter is thought to be most important for judging precise distances such as during landing or an attack (Campbell & Lack, 1985). However, we could find no published information on the potential distraction function of wing bars or on the interaction between monocular and binocular vision in birds of prey. Sequins placed on the wings of a Racing Pigeon could potentially have a distraction effect on an attacking bird of prey."
However, the report also noted that: "old-birds wearing sequins did not home more successfully than their loft companions that were not wearing sequins. In fact there was a non-significant tendency for the opposite to be true. It is possible that the sequins actually marks out an individual pigeon within a flock and makes it more vulnerable to attack by a bird of prey. However, we cannot say that any old-bird, with or without sequins, which
failed to home from the training tosses, was killed by a bird of prey. What we can say
is that the level of losses of experienced pigeons during training tosses was not reduced by the application of sequins".
Needless to say, the jury is still out on the application of "on-board" reflective surfaces as a deterrent.
That being said, it certainly cannot hurt to try..
