March 2022
Birds can be quite a nuisance once they decide your balcony, or building, is a good place to roost or nest. They can damage the building structure and turn a landscaped area into a mess. Their droppings can clog drains and damage equipment. Droppings and feathers can cause respiratory problems while transmitting diseases and pathogens to people and animals.
Birds adapt to their surroundings making them a persistent problem.
Pigeons and sparrows can make nearly any location their home and are not picky eaters. Sparrows are aggressive and may destroy eggs of competing species or threaten other adult birds. Pigeons are less aggressive and more of a nuisance.
Starlings prefer livestock and can contaminate large amounts of food. They transmit fleas and disease to people and pets, damage trees and landscaping. Starlings can be noisy as they mimic surrounding noise and birds.
Canadian Geese are territorial and aggressive, and can attack people or animals. They overgraze lawns and consume crops. Each mating season they return to the same location.
Bird infestations are a gradual process. Dealing with them before they claim your property as theirs and settle down is the best approach.
Bird attachment to a property can be described as a four-stage process. When birds first gather to rest or communicate they have not yet made a property their permanent residence. Socializing can be prevented or birds relocated with relative ease. Birds using your property for feeding can be a more difficult problem to address. It can be nearly impossible to eliminate all traces of food and water.
Removing birds that have found shelter on your property and spend the night, roosting, is more difficult to address and likely requires professional assistance. Removal of birds from what they consider a permanent home where they reproduce, nesting, is the most difficult. Nests have to be removed or destroyed to keep them from returning.
Bird removal techniques used by pest control specialists to modify their habits:
- Block off unscreened vents, holes in walls and other potential nesting sites.
- Electronic repellents placed around building areas overlooking common areas and entryways.
- Eliminate prime perching spots by placing spikes on roofs, balconies or other areas.
- Bird barriers that reflect light beams from the sun to startle and disorient.
- Block off areas with netting such as under an HVAC unit or around a balcony to prevent use as shelter.
- Environmentally responsible bird repellant sprays.
- Removal and safe relocation of protected bird species.
