Originally Posted by
Euclideanplane
The use of shotguns seems uncommon. In Heathrow the policy is to fire cartridge guns.
Depends on the threat of indigenous birds.
Young birds will easily scare with just the noise. However older more seasoned birds assess the threat and just move a little bit and wait around for the threat to leave before returning. After that a shotgun blast or other form of insurance would be used and followed by waving one or two killed birds over ones head to make sure the leaders got the message.. Following this back to pyrotechnics works fine again..
I first learned this trick many years ago when a team of well armed militia jumped out of the back of an old volks bus and took down quite a few gulls with shotguns. A year later I showed up with a different car full of guns, but all it took was for me to get out with a walki-talki antenna flashing and the birds took off before a gun could be fired. They are smart bastards and learn somewhat. I never could figure out if it was me, the walki-talki or the Volks-bus that they associated with.
Some bird control folks use follow-me trucks to run into flocks to disperse them Of course you first have to prove that the vehicle is deadly by waving a dead bird or two over your head so in the future just the vehicles presence is good enough. Gulls and sea birds seem to respond to the above.