MARKET TRENDS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Since the Philippines is an archipelago, it is surrounded by bodies of water rich in marine

life and is abundant in fertile lands favorable for crop growth. Agriculture and fisheries are the

leading industries which contribute large amounts in the economic growth of the country. But

progress doesn’t flow smoothly. Every year, the agricultural and fishing sector suffers from a

decrease in quantity and quality of yielded products. Hindrances, such as pests, are one of the

major cause of the said decrease. Bird pests are common in a country rich in agriculture, tropical

climate and become nuisances to farmers and fishermen/fishpond operators before and during

harvest season. Birds would flock and snatch considerable amounts of harvests produce leading

to a high decrease from the overall harvest.

Aside from the agricultural and fishing industry, the aviation industry of the Philippines

also suffered from bird pests. Bird strike incidents in the country is increasing each year. Just this

February, 2019 a number of passengers from Aklan bound to Manila were stranded for an hour

at the Kalibo International Airport and this July, 2019 the flight bound to Cagayan De Oro was

forced to return to NAIA. Both incidents were caused by a bird strike during takeoff. Bird strikes

have been known to cause flight delays, create significant damages to aircrafts which result in

spending millions of pesos for damage repairs, and can sometimes lead to air crashes resulting to

the death of hundreds of passengers. In Roxas City airport, none was recorded such air crashed

and accidents but hundreds of wildlife birds of different species were killed each year just to

maintain safety along the runway and thousands of pesos were spent in aircraft maintenance.

Bird repellents are not new in the market. A comprehensive line of bird control products

that are eco-friendly (“green”), environmentally-safe, non-toxic and non-harmful as claimed by

one company abroad that produces bird and pest control products is available in foreign markets.
Bird deterrents range from the state-of-the-art laser technology to ultrasonic/sonic bird and

pigeon repellents, bird spikes, exclusion netting, roost inhibitors, visual scare products and taste

aversion agents and other bird control solutions are in the market today. However, all of these

are not available in our local market and is very expensive. When there are those who can

afford to buy, its parts and services (maintenance and warranty) are not available in our country

so when damage, it cannot easily be repaired and change unless you need to spend another

thousand (or million) of pesos again.

Most of the imported bird control products are made and designed to deter birds that are

not compatible to the type of birds that we have here in the Philippines thus, when we buy it and

used here in our country, it is not effective. For example, a sonic/ultrasonic bird repellent

commercially available in foreign market – a device designed and programmed with an

unrelenting combination of species-specific distress cries, predators, general harassments and

ultrasonic waves, is not effective when used here in our country since it produces a sound of a

predator - like hawk, eagle, falcon, vultures, that our birds are not familiar with thus, they are not

threatened. Furthermore, most of imported ultrasonic/sonic bird repellents are designed to repel

birds like crows, gulls, ravens, woodpeckers, grackles, starlings, cormorants, swallows,

blackbirds, sparrows, pigeons, and more which is not endemic in our country specifically here in

Capiz. In fact, the researchers bought an expensive ultrasonic bird repellent available on foreign

market online and when tested, it cannot shoo away any birds (even Eurasian sparrow and

pigeon) at all!

Because of the economic and life threatening problems brought by bird pests and bird

strikes, as well as the very expensive (yet “not effective”) and unavailability of local bird control
products, the researchers were led to innovate old scarecrow methods of scaring and repelling

away bird pests, thus, creating “Hello Bird, Goodbye: A Multi – technique Bird Repellent”.

The researchers conducted a survey on bird problems in the province of Capiz,

specifically in Roxas City Airport, fishpond operators and caretakers, farmers, fishermen and

homeowners and asked them their common and existing ways of controlling bird problems (such

as bird strikes and bird pest). Based on the 25 respondents’ answers, the following are problems

caused by bird pests and bird strikes:

a. Destruction of crops and rice fields, fruit trees

b. Visual nesting

c. Complaints by neighbors

d. Unsanitary droppings

e. Bring parasites like fleas/ticks

f. Bird strike incident to aircrafts

Table 2 below summarizes respondents’ ways of controlling bird problems.

Table 2. Common and Existing Ways of Mitigating Birds Based on the Researchers’ Survey

within Roxas City and some of the Towns in Capiz

Common and Existing Ways of Mitigating Birds

Home/Buildings
/Commercial
Farms Fishponds Airports Establishments/Office
s

Visual Scarecrows Removing nests

Visual
and Predator Horn and Siren on nesting area if
Scarecrows
Decoy possible

Improvised Bird
Removing nests Netting using Kwitis and Manually scare the
on nesting area nylon thread or Firecrackers birds away
straw strings

Improvised spikes
(bamboo) or bird
Mostly did
netting (nylon Air gun pellet rifle
nothing about it
thread/straw
string)

Catch or capture
Vegetation
birds (like Maya)
Control on runway
using nets and sell
shoulder
it on the market

Dogs

Table 2 above showed how people in farms, fishponds, airport and at home or buildings

deal with bird pests. The cons of this methods is that birds can easily adapt to its environment
and is actually very smart. Scarecrows and bird distress and predatory calls could scare them at

first but once they observed that nothing can really happen to them, they keep on going in the

area. Nettings are also somehow ineffective since birds can break these nets. Since these methods

are ineffective in keeping birds away, some find ways to catch/capture birds either to kill them or

sell them on the market. Use of nets and visual scarecrow in the airport are not recommended

thus, airport runway personnel resorts in using skyrocket (kwitis), firecrackers, and air gun pellet

riffle which can instantly kill the birds.

The limitations of commercial devices available in the market is that most of them are

electronic which cannot be used outdoors since they need an electrical outlet to operate. There

are also those which are solar-powered but produces sonic sounds which becomes annoying over

a long period of time. And although these sonic devices are available, they can only be bought

from foreign online markets which makes it expensive and its availability is limited for us

Filipinos. Other visual scares are not effective once birds get used to them.

The ability of the device to connect to any Bluetooth devices enables the user to have a

total control of the device. The user can explore and experiment with different kinds of sound

effects that can repel birds through cell phones, laptap, or PC, then directly send the sound to the

device, play it and the effect on the birds can be observed immediately.

A 12V USB player with SD card holder and IR receiver module was also installed in the

device. This will let the user to store different sound collections to deter or shoo away birds and

through a remote control, the user can select and play the sound suited to the type of birds he

wants to shoo at that certain moment.

 A PIR motion sensor module with maximum sensing range of 120 – 180 within 7 meters

was also installed in the device. This enable the device to detect any type of birds within the

vicinity and will automatically switch on and play a sound to repel that birds. When not in use as

bird repellent or at night where bird strike or bird pest is not a problem, the device can serve as

an alarm/security system. The motion sensor can sense any kind of motion, including human,

hence it can detect and give warning when somebody plans to steal. The user can plan well

where and how to install the device to make sure that it will only detect birds or human thief (in

case it will also be uses as alarm/security device) to avoid unwanted sound disturbance to the

neighborhood especially during at night. After all, the device can be customized and the user

can request to add additional features according to his needs.

Table 3. List of Bird Repellent Products on the Online Market and its Features vs. Researchers’
Device
Commercial Devices Available on the Market
Electronic Ultrasound Devices
Electronic Sonic (Sound) Devices Including
ProHawk UAV Drone
Electronic Laser Visual Scare
Visual Scare Devices
Features
• Silent to humans; for all indoor high traffic locations; some units
may be deployed for targeted outdoors areas.
• Repel all bird species, bats, animals.
• Industrial / parking facility / ware
• Provides the widest area of coverage - 1 acre up to 30+ acres;
indoor & outdoor; species-specific; volume controlled,
day/night/24-hr operation.
• Repel all bird species, geese/ducks, animals.
• Airports / plant operations / roofs / parking lots, garages / parks
/ landfills / storage facilities / bridges & underpasses / agriculture
& barns / residential – many more.
• State-of-the-art laser technology; silent; for indoor/semi-
enclosed areas.
• Outdoor unit also available.
• Repel all bird species.
• Industrial / hangars / warehouse / storage areas / ponds –
many more.
• Effective, highly economical choice for multiple indoor &
outdoor operations; works alone or even better in combination
with electronic devices as a synergistic all-around sensory

Roost Inhibitors (includes Bird Shock track,
netting, spikes, gel & liquid)
Taste Aversions
Electronic Pest Animal Repellers
RETAIL products for pest bird & animal
control
Note: None of these products are locally made, all are imported. Its supply is limited in Philippine market, available mostly on
online store thus, results to a very high cost.
Researcher’s Device
Hello Bird, Goodbye:
A Multi - technique
Bird Repellent
repellent solution.
• Repel all species of birds, geese/ducks.
• Industrial / facility / warehouse / storage / agriculture /
homeowner – many more.
• Physical barriers work everywhere they are installed; 100%
effective; some types especially discreet; silent.
• Repels all bird species
• All surfaces, rafters, ledges, non-traffic structure openings.
Virtually all commercial and residential applications.
• Biodegradable, non-toxic, treatments for turf, structures, fruit
& crops.
• Useful alone, even better in combination with other types of
control.
• Repels birds or pest animals.
• Commercial / industrial / corporate campus / schools & parks /
golf courses / homeowner – virtually anywhere.
• Sonic / Ultrasonic repellers target pests from insects through
multiple pest mammal species including mice, raccoons, skunks,
deer and more.
• Effective, easy-to-use, commercial-grade units; also retail and
plug-ins.
• Office / industrial / retail or homeowner use.
• Consumer & homeowner solutions packaged for retail sale
• Economical, effective, wide appeal
Features
 Can be customized to produce either or alternating
infrasonic, sonic, ultrasonic, and recorded sounds based
on the type or bird species needed to deter and
according to user need.
 User friendly, no complicated programming needed.
 Can easily be repaired once damage, electronic parts
are locally available
 Solar powered
 PIR
 Bluetooth, IR sensor, SD card, and USB connection
 aluminum casing
 Eco-friendly
 Can be use anywhere with bird pest problems
 Low cost and locally made (please see appendix D for
the cost analysis)
 Shooed away all kinds of birds tested by the
researchers: eurasian tree sparrow (maya agma),
chestnut munia (maya pula), domesticated
 doves/pigeons (salampati), zebra dove (korokokok),
cattle egret (tulabong), red turtle dove (tukmo)

The researchers visited the following websites to check if there is already an existing

device with the same features and functions similar to the device the researchers constructed

(Check appendix C to see the list of patented bird repellent products and studies) or of similar

study was patented: World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); Espacenet; USPTO, and

Ipophil.