Hi all-
-- A little science background on this situation might be helpful.
Metal has a high heat capacity, which means that it takes a large amount of heat to change the temperature of the metal. That is the reason that anything with moisture in it will stick to untreated metal in freezing weather - the water flash freezes, and attaches to the metal and anything that the water was clinging to. This is why you don't want to lick a metal pole in freezing weather, I am sure you have heard of kids getting their tongue stuck to metal objects in the winter. Warm water doesn't help much, because you have to raise the temperature of the metal to the point that the ice melts. Heating the metal could be accomplished with a hair dryer or small torch, but needs to be done carefully. A hair dryer will take some time, and a torch will heat the metal pretty quickly, possibly causing other problems. Apply the heat to the metal a short distance away from the object, not to the object (bird) itself. In this situation, it is important to avoid stressing the bird any further as well.
A better solution is to make sure that any metal objects that birds might perch on are properly coated, with paint, rubber coating (like Plasti-dip) or even something as simple as electrical tape. When there is another material between the metal and the water, the ice won't stick to the paint, plastic, etc, and even if the moisture freezes on contact, it won't stay stuck to the other material.
Hope this helps -
Jeff Parks
Boulder, CO
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