Do Visual Pyrotechnics Scare Birds?

Birds rely on their sight more than any other sense, so it’s no surprise that our visual pyrotechnics provide great results for wildlife managers at airports, landfills, and beyond.

Here’s a look at some of our specialty 15mm visual pyrotechnic scare cartridges:

Comet Bangers (#6010): Range of 15m/50ft. Comet Bangers are a highly visible pyrotechnic round at close range and can be fired out of any 15mm pyrotechnic launcher. The Comet Banger cartridge creates a visible green stardust effect with additional crackling noise. After extensive testing at airfields in the Pacific Northwest, the Comet Banger has been found to be extremely successful at scaring gulls, bald eagles and other raptors. It also works well with other bird species. The green effect is easily visible in all light conditions.

There are also certain cartridges that can be stacked on top of each other and fired simultaneously for a multi-stage scare effect. Some examples of these combinations are:

Screamer + Comet Banger

Range Extender Rocket + Comet Banger

Range Extender Rocket + Comet Banger + Screamer

Screamer (#6001) with Comet Banger (#6010): Range of 90m /300ft with 2 explosion points. Screamers have a range of 75m/250ft and the Comet Banger adds another 15m (50ft). Effects are stacked so that the audio effects of the Screamer are followed by the Comet Banger.

Range Extender Rocket (#6008) with Comet Banger (#6010): Range of 245m/800ft with 2 explosion points. The Range Extender Rocket, which can only be fired from an RG-46, travels 230m/750ft and ignites. The Comet Banger travels another 15m/50ft.

Range Extender Rocket (#6008) with Comet Banger (#6010) and Screamer (#6001): Range of 320m (1050ft) with 3 explosion points. The initial explosion of the Range Extender Rocket is at 230m/750ft, after an additional 75m/250ft the Screamer ignites and finally at the 320m/1050ft mark, the Comet Banger.

Multi-Stage Pyrotechnics are effective at preventing habituation and are perfect for use in sensitive areas, such as airports, or over large bodies of water where you can’t get close enough to the birds. Here is another example from the Sechelt Landfill, where the Range Extender Rocket and Comet Banger are used to scare some out of reach gulls.


For more information about bird control programs e-mail us at info@margosupplies.com