I love birds! Kind of! Unless they insist upon messing up MY BIRD!

That's for the birds!

Years ago I purchased a "dummy" owl that I sat on my plane to discourage birds from landing, pooping and moving in to my plane. Then I moved to Spokane, Washington where birds don't mind owls. So, Guess what! One morning a friend and myself drove to the airport for a short morning of flying, only to find. . .

	Definitely not a good sign. I knew the birds had paid my plane a visit and was ready for the mess I would probably see inside. That's because I've "been there - done that" before with birds. In fact, I foolishly purchased my plane in California and flew it to Washington state years ago without thinking about checking for bird nests way down in-between the cylinders. When it came time for the engine overhaul we realized that the left-rear cylinder had been overheating all this time because of an old bird nest clogging air flow. That cost me a new cylinder and piston.
	When we opened the cowling and got into the cylinder compartment, this is what we found. Not only was there lots of grass, the birds had made sure it would stay there by carefully stuffing the first layer down between the cooling fins of each cylinder. I had to go home and get my tools!
	To the left you can see some of the tools I have used: A propane burner (and fire extinguisher). This turns the left-over grass to ash and makes it easy to blow out next time you fly. On the right you can see a pair of long-nose pliers and tweesers. These take longer. (But much safer)
	If you've ever looked closely at your engine you'll notice these little chunks of aluminum stretching between each cylinder. These are retainers which hold a small shroud against the bottom of the two cylinders. When cleaning out bird left-overs you need to lift these retainers up, rotate them 90 degrees and allow (maybe even push) the shroud to drop down and release all the particles you cannot see from on top. Use compressed air or just blow hard, use a flash light and make sure you remove everything. If you're careful and don't allow the retainer and spring to fall through you can just pull it back up with pliers and rotate it back into position.
	Here you see me trimming some sponge that protected the last hard drive I purchased. I cut four strips for each side (1-3/4 x 7) and plugged up the intake. The only problem with doing this is if you forget to take them out before going up. But that's another story.