GARDENEER Dalen Rotating Head Fake Owl Decoy to Scare Birds Away from Gardens, Rooftops, and Patios - Scarecrow Provides Chemical-Free Pest Control - Safe and Humane - 18" 360º Rotating Head

For the price, this is an excellent 'watch owl'. It is made of sturdy materials and the bottom plug pops out easily allowing the hollow inside to be filled with rocks or sand (I added about 2/4 lbs river rocks). This holds the owl in place during winds or inclement weather conditions. The paint and detail are really good. This is my second decoy owl (different brands) and I prefer this one from the more expensive version I purchased at a chain hardware and garden store. The head 'rotates', but not automatically. There are no gears or batteries or solar panels on this bird. His head 'snaps' onto a pivot bolt attached to the body. Kind of like a bobblehead, the head will move slightly up and down and turns 360 degrees as the breeze blows. The eyes are piercing and effective.While I love welcoming the great variety of birds that I come to my property, I purchased this due to an aggressive and territorial cardinal that would attack and poop on my car daily. I cover my mirrors every day so he started to attack his reflection in the windows. He's scratched my paint and windows, and I'd just had it with him. I tried other decoy methods found online (reflective mylar, scarecrow), nothing worked....until this item. He's been watching over for only a few days and already the cardinal has been absent since the moment "Owly" arrived. I move him every day to simulate a real owl, and so that the offensive bird doesn't get comfortable. I highly recommend this decoy, especially for the price.

This owl worked great! I had a major bird problem in my yard due to the berry tree in my drive way, and let’s just say the mess they were making on a daily bases made it look like they had a personal vendetta against our cars. When I bought the owl I was hesitant based on the bad reviews I read but I pressed on and hoped that it would help deter at least some of the birds from my yard/driveway. Much to my surprise it worked almost instantly and better then expected, I have NO birds! Which means no berry mess or bird poop on my driveway or cars. I do suggest filling the owl with fish tank gravel or rocks because it is top heavy and will fall over. But when I filled it with left over fish tank gravel I had it did great, and it stayed upright through a pretty bad storm we had not to long ago. If your hesitant about this product don’t be it works. It’s a great none lethal alternative for a bird problem. One other tip I will give is that you should move the owl periodically to keep the other birds on their toes, lol. Because I did notice when I left it in one spot for too long I would see one or two brave birds try to reappear. But once I moved the bird to a new location they were gone.

The owl does keep some birds away, just not all. A few of the little buggers sit on the railing right next the owl just to spite me.I bought the owl to discourage sparrows from nesting in two spots they have dug under my shingles in the eaves in the back of my house. I stuck the owl on the end of a stick and propped him up on my deck. Occasionally I move him around. Occasionally the wind moves his head around.Most of the time he is still.He didn't scare away the birds that were already nesting there in Location A, but they didn't come back for another round of chicks at the end of the season either. Location B didn't have an active nest at all when I put him up and it didn't get one afterwards either.So, I'm relatively pleased so far! Not sure how long the spell will last because I don't yet understand what makes some birds steer clear while others don't care. Maybe they consciously understand the owl is fake, but the silhouette makes them a bit nervous anyway, so they decide to avoid the headache and set up house somewhere else? I'm hopeful that this is the case.Anyway, if you're reading the reviews to figure out if this will work for you, my advice is: You really can't know until you try it.If you're going to get mad about buying something that isn't 100% effective, skip it. But if you're fed-up enough that you don't mind gambling some money, go for it. You might end up pleasantly surprised and cautiously hopeful like me.Note: I will update to 5 stars and a rave review if there are no nests next year.

The Owl’s head almost never faces forward and there’s no way to make adjustments to correct head tilt issues. I guess I could try using glue and lead weights to balance wobble but I don’t know how to make owl face forward. I guess I could glue head to body and forget balancing issues. Back it goes to China.