HDPE Bird Balls for Bird Control on Ponds and Tailings

Bird balls are floating balls used to keep birds and other wildlife off an open water surface. Spread across a pond, they leave no clear water for a bird to land on or drink from, so birds stop settling there. They are used mainly to keep birds away from water that would harm them or that they would foul — tailings ponds, mine and process water, oil and gas produced-water pits — and to cut the bird-strike risk on water near airports. The same cover also shades and protects the water.

By covering the surface completely. A layer of 100 millimetre balls packs across the water and moves with it, leaving no open gap big enough for a bird to land in or reach the water through, so the pond simply stops being a usable landing or drinking spot. Unlike netting, the balls need no frame or posts, suit ponds of any shape or changing level, and cannot trap a bird the way a net can. They work day and night, all year, once spread.

On water that birds must be kept off for safety or environmental reasons. That means tailings and process ponds at mines and plants, produced-water and evaporation pits in oil and gas, contaminated or chemical ponds, and stormwater and reservoir surfaces near airports where birds are a strike hazard. They also go on drinking-water reservoirs, where keeping birds off protects water quality. Anywhere open water and birds must be kept apart, the balls do it without fencing.

Yes. Because the balls block sunlight to cover the water, they do the same job a shade ball does — light-starved algae grow far less, and the blanketed surface loses much less water to evaporation. So a bird-control cover brings algae control and evaporation savings with it, along with keeping out dust, rain and debris. On a hot, sunlit pond those extra benefits can matter as much as the bird control itself.

The number goes by the water's surface area — at 100 millimetres it takes about 116 balls to cover a square metre, so you multiply the pond's area in square metres by that figure. Our minimum order is 10,000 balls, which covers roughly 85 square metres, and we ship in woven or jumbo bags on pallets, in 20-foot or 40-foot containers. Custom sizes and materials can be made. Send us the pond area and we will work out the quantity and packing.