This week our team met with representatives from Science World. Mila, Chad and Dustin took us through an overview of the problem and what methods they had in mind to solve it. This was the first time that we really understood the magnitude of the situation on the dome.

We were told how the birds’ excrement dissolves the seals between window panels on the   dome. In addition, these birds drop rocks and other objects from the frame of the dome, causing damage to the glass itself. While this discussion confirmed some of our expectations from last week’s site visit, we certainly did not expect that cleanup and re-paneling takes about one month and costs Science World about $50,000 per year!  As a result, our budget is certainly higher than anticipated. This has minimized one of the major constraints on our project.

Our group felt fortunate to have the opportunity to get a 360 tour of the geodesic dome. After discussing our brainstormed ideas, Science World officials put forth a few of their own:

1. A tripwire system, sending a slight electric shock around the frame of the dome
2. A natural extract to make standing on or in the vicinty of the dome unpleasant for the birds
3. A trained predatory bird — one that can nest safely at the dome and deter other birds from coming near

An unexpected constraint of the project is that there are laws in Vancouver preventing people from removing Seagulls from their nests. Thus, if a seagull has created a long-term nest on the site we will be unable to disturb it, and the project will be disrupted. This creates a time constraint that we were not anticipating — one that makes our job all the more exciting.

Finally, we were told that we won’t be installing the solution. Our goal is to create a formal report detailing our research on which solution would best fit the mould of the project. Science World will then review the report and decide where to go from there.

This past week our team visited Science World to get a better idea of what we were up against. Over the course of our visit we saw seagulls landing all over the geodesic dome and realized the extent of the problem. In addition to the exterior skeleton of the dome itself, we saw birds grouping together at its base. We sat down and brainstormed a number of ideas to deal with this, which we will be taking to our meeting with Mila this coming week.

1. Spikes
   While we recognize that it isn’t feasible to cover the entire dome with spikes, it may be effective to use them on specific problematic areas. For example, the base of the dome sees a lot of traffic from the birds, and this could serve as a deterrent for them to come to the dome in the first place. As of right now it seems like our most reasonably priced solution.
2. Glue
   There are a number of glue-like products on the market that can be spread on a surface to make it uncomfortable for a bird to land on. While we discussed this extensively, we ultimately decided that it was likely infeasible because of the amount of space that would need to be treated, the difficulty in applying it, and the need to reapply it on a regular basis. This process may exceed the cost of repairing the dome.
3. Electric Charge
   We briefly discussed sending an electric charge through the frame of the dome, but decided this was dangerous to the birds and potentially nearby humans.
4. High Frenquency Sound
   We are currently leaning towards the installation of a high frequency system that deters birds from entering the area. We have seen many precedent examples, such as stadiums and apartment buildings that use this technology. We still need to do more research, as we have two major concerns: money, and the effect on other animals. We do not want to accidentally create a nuisance for pet owners walking on the seawall, and need to come up with an economical solution. However, we believe that a central hub with speakers placed strategically around the building may be part of a potential solution to Science World’s bird problem.

Our prevailing idea right now is some sort of composite system utilizing both frequencies and spikes. At this time we are not able to complete a timeline of the project – we will attach this to our next post after meeting with Mila.