Terror Eyes Predator Balloon
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Products

Terror Eyes
Predator Balloon
Overview
Inflatable bird scaring products to help rid pigeons and other birds are becoming a more common sight in both agricultural and urban environments. ‘Terror Eyes’ is a predator balloon which is inflated via either foot or electric pump and once inflated, ‘Terror Eyes’ is installed on a pole or hung from a vantage point overlooking the area to be protected. ‘Terror Eyes’ will then be in the correct position to have the maximum impact on the pest species of bird concerned. ‘Terror Eyes’ is suspended by an optional spring, helping to ensure that the balloon moves erratically, and this, combined with movement of air currents, further gives the impression that this is a ‘live bird’ rather than a static device.
Terror Eyes Predator
Balloon on Pole
‘Terror Eyes’ is designed to rid pigeons and many different species of bird including sparrows, starlings, gulls woodpeckers, swallows, crows, blackbirds, geese and more. The distributor also confirms that ‘Terror Eyes’ is "..scientifically designed from extensive experience and research on predator and bird behavior."
The distributor makes the following recommendations in respect of installing and maintaining ‘Terror Eyes’:
- The product is only inflated up to 85% for maximum impact
- To increase the random motion of Terror-Eyes, use the coil spring provided, and enforce it with a piece of strong twine slightly longer. This should prevent it from distorting the spring
- When suspending Terror-Eyes from a rope, it is helpful, especially in windy areas, to anchor the unit to something below it. Use the loop on the bottom of Terror-Eyes
- In order to rid pigeons, locate Terror-Eyes close to the roosting birds, with good line of sight to the infested areas
- When installing 2 or more units, hang them each at a different height (a minimum of 1 unit diameter apart)
- To prevent birds becoming used to Terror-Eyes, occasionally relocate units
- Punctures can easily be repaired with a vinyl bonding agent

Terror Eyes Predator
Balloon on Boat
DEFRA’s view:

Terror Eyes Predator
Balloon
on
Industrial Site
"Balloons tethered in a crop are an inexpensive method of bird deterrence, but studies show that they are not very effective and birds quickly habituate to them."
"To increase the effectiveness of balloons, eyespots, consisting of a circular pattern that resemble the appearance of vertebrate eyes, can be printed on the side."
"Although easy to set up and move around, balloons can be easily damaged in high winds and can deteriorate in sunlight leading to a loss of helium and thus height. They also need to be regularly checked to ensure that they do not break free from their moorings and present a hazard to aircraft. In the UK, the flying of balloons is governed by the Air Navigation Order, which states that without the written permission of the Civil Aviation Authority, a tethered balloon cannot be flown above a height of 60 metres or within 5 kilometres of an aerodrome (CAA 2002). Their effectiveness at ridding pigeons and other birds appears to be dependent on the species concerned and the effects are only short term."
Price range:
‘Terror Eyes’ is currently available in the UK at a cost of approximately £50.00 including VAT. There are a variety of balloon-based holographic products available in the pest control marketplace ranging from as little £10 through to several hundred pounds.
Although ‘Terror Eyes’ is relatively inexpensive to buy it should not be chosen for this reason alone. Many bird scaring products and deterrents designed to rid pigeons cost very little to purchase but have little or no effect on the target species concerned.
User reviews:
The following user comments were provided by a company called Frito-Lay Foods based in Cucamonga, USA:
"It's always been a battle for us to repel the birds," said James Reeves, building maintenance supervisor. "The Frito Lay manufacturing plant here in Cucamonga is right next to a regional park which makes the bird problems a lot tougher for us. Hundreds of crows, sparrows, starlings and sea gulls would gather around our product waste area where there was food lying around. Our hands were tied but we had to find a solution because of the tight inspection policies within the food processing industry," Reeves explained.
Frito-Lay finally found its solution to the bird problems from a local distributor of bird repellant products. "We were trying to get an ultrasound bird repeller device at the time. Our distributor suggested that we try a Terror-Eyes balloon," said Joe Becerra, plant sanitarian. These two-foot-in-diameter balloons contain two sets of holographic eyes that appear to move.
"At first, we thought it was a joke," Becerra said. "But since I desperately needed help, I thought it couldn't hurt to give it a try. Besides, we had previously used a Bird-X product called Nixalite, which helped us to successfully eliminate roosting areas. The only limitation was that we couldn't place Nixalite everywhere we wanted because of safety reasons, so we tried Terror-Eyes."
Once he saw how Terror-Eyes really worked, he took it very seriously. Becerra said that he initially purchased two of the $45 units and sporadically placed them in locations where he could "scare the birds off." And he had amazing results.
"I would say that Terror-Eyes has helped to reduce bird problems here by about 90%," Becerra said. "Because this was the most effective solution we've tried, I ordered nine additional units. Whereas before we installed Terror-Eyes, hundreds of birds flocked here to fight over a popcorn kernel, maybe only a few birds can now be seen in the area because they seem afraid of the Terror-Eyes balloons."
Comments from the Manufacturer/Distributor:

Terror Eyes Advertisement
Editorial comments:

Terror Eyes on
Aircraft Hangar

Terror Eyes in
Factory Unit

Terror Eyes Suspended
from Roof
‘Terror Eyes’ will have to be installed in such a way that it has space to move and rotate and therefore choosing the correct site is extremely important. If the initial installation site proves to be inappropriate for any reason, the cost of moving the device may be considerable.

Terror Eyes Predator
Balloon in Tree

Terror Eyes Predator
Balloon on Canopy

Terror Eyes
with Footpump
Sources:
DEFRA quotes:
PDF on DEFRA website entitled: ‘Review of international research regarding the effectiveness of auditory bird scaring techniques and potential alternatives’. By J Bishop, H McKay, D Parrott and J Allan.
Also commonly known as:
Scare eye products, scare eye balloons, bird scare eye products, bird scare eye diverter, giant scare eyes, holographic scarers, mock birds of prey, dummy birds, dummy birds of prey, scare eyes for birds, visual scare devices and predator eye balloon
Relevance to pigeon control:
The ‘Terror Eyes’ predator balloon is used to scare a wide variety of birds but would only be used for the control of pigeons as a complementary control and not as a stand-alone control