Home Bird Control Methods
Birds are often unwelcome guests near your home. Once they find a location they like, they tend to flock together and are difficult to make leave. There are steps you can take to break up a bird problem, however. This article will go over some of the best moves to make for fixing a bird problem at your home. The best thing you can do to stop a bird problem near your home is to remove the birds’ food sources. If birds are in an area, they are generally there because there is a food source around. If you can remove bird food sources, the birds will lose their reason to be in the area.
The most common food sources for nuisance birds include open trash containers and food left out for the birds. If birds are getting into open trash containers, these should be replaced with closed trash containers to block birds out. This includes individual trash containers as well as dumpsters. You should also prevent food from being left out for the birds. This includes people feeding the birds, discarded food left on the ground, and bird feeders. If birds are getting food from any of these sources, they need to be removed to stop the bird infestation. Some birds eat pet food. If birds are eating from this food source, it is better to feed pets inside.
Two less common food sources are gardens and insect infestations. Gardens should be netted off or protected by another bird deterrent and insect infestations need to be addressed by a pest control company. Bird food sources vary by bird. If you need to check what type of bird you are dealing with, you can download the Merlin Bird ID app. It is free on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store and allows you to answer a series of questions to determine which type of bird you are seeing. The app is accurate and helpful in ID’ing birds.
The next step is to determine if birds are nesting. If birds are nesting, that needs to be addressed and is a bigger problem than if the birds are just perching. Nesting birds need to be removed and their nesting grounds blocked off with bird netting. Most bird species (all except pigeons, house sparrows, and starlings) are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and it is illegal to interfere with them or their nests. Even if the birds you are dealing with are not protected, we do not recommend ever moving a bird’s nest yourself. Birds nests are host to diseases and the birds will likely get territorial.
If birds are nesting, your best bet is to call in a bird control company like AviAway. They can get a permit to legally move birds and can do so safely within the bounds of the law. They can also block off the birds’ nesting grounds afterwards to prevent birds from returning next season. If birds are not nesting, you will have a much easier time getting them to leave. After you address the birds’ food sources, you can install bird deterrents on your property to prevent the remaining birds from hanging around your home.
The first bird deterrent method we recommend is ledge deterrents. These include bird spikes, bird wire, and any other method that physically blocks birds from perching on ledges. Birds often perch on the sides of roofs, on fences, on window sills, and other flat, surface-like areas they can get a footing. These can almost always be blocked off with bird spikes or bird wire.
The next bird control method is scare devices. These types of devices include terror eye balloons, fake coyotes, and decoy falcons. These types of devices work especially well if some part of the device is moving. Stationary scare devices are less effective than motion-based scare devices. Installing these type of devices will lessen a bird problem if the birds do not have a nearby food source.
Summary: To address a bird problem at your home, first remove the birds’ food sources. Then, if you determine they are nesting nearby, call in a bird control company to remove the birds and install bird netting to block them from coming back. If birds are not nesting, physical deterrents like bird spikes and bird wire or motion-based scarecrows are great choices for deterring the remaining birds.