Birds: Truly one of nature’s most majestic creatures. Elegant. Graceful. Resourceful. Often beautiful.
And an absolute five-alarm migraine and costly nuisance if they decide to call your house their home and favorite daytime hangout spot. And birds love roofs, decks, ledges and gutters almost as much as they love worms.
“Unfortunately, if birds use your home or commercial building as their home, they can create a mess and even damage your structure,” Bird Barrier stresses. “The natural nesting behavior of birds make gutters, roofs, and building ledges attractive spaces to build a home.”
The International Association of Certified Home Inspectors reports birds cause tens of millions of dollars in damage every year to machinery, automobiles, roofs and ventilation systems.
Talk about a costly statistic that’s literally for the birds.
Why Do These Birds Keep Hanging Around My House?
It’s not a bird-brained question. It’s the root (or roost) of the problem. Birds, like all creatures, are looking for comfortable and safe nesting and feeding grounds. Their natural nesting behavior too often leads them to inside your attic, garage, gutters and ledges.
If only their potential trouble stopped with the unsightliness of their droppings.
Bird droppings also corrode paint and metal, causing exterior home damage and sometimes leaky roofs. Bird nests in gutters turn your home’s critical rainwater filtering system into a clogged mess of feathers and nesting materials.
Even a diehard St. Louis Cardinals fan wouldn’t want to room with these inconsiderate squatters. At least the “Angry Birds” in the video game and movies are fictional.
How to Make Your Home Bird Proof
Remember, birds are one of nature’s most resourceful creatures. Iowa’s 433 known species of birds don’t keep flying without knowing how to adapt. Three of the Hawkeye State’s bird species have been classified nuisances and are exempt from state and federal protections: house sparrows, pigeons and European starlings. These are the most likely suspects to target your home with their waste and unhealthy habits.
These pests use solar panels, dryer vents and roofs for entry into your home. Shooing them away from your home begins with …
Eliminate Landing Spots
Scare tactics or “No Trespassing” signs won’t work for birds’ favorite high landing spots like ledges, gutters, rooftops, signs and awnings. Spike Kits can create uncomfortable surfaces birds will quickly learn to avoid. Bird slides can take away ledges by establishing an angled surface that makes it impossible for birds to get a grip. They can be glued onto any surface and painted to match your home’s exterior.
Protect Pipes & Railings
Railings and Pipes are to birds what a shaded hammock is to a lazy dad on a Sunday afternoon. Birds love to roost here for the protection and excellent viewpoint they offer. Bird wire can make pipes and railings unstable landing spots. A tower guard, though unsightly, can offer a visual deterrent.
Bird Repellent
Nothing scares away birds faster and more safely than bird repellent. Remember, not all bird repellents are created equal.
These anti-bird nesting measures can be found at local hardware stores and online at Amazon.
Other proven bird scare tactics include flags and using shiny objects like CDs, foil pans or silver reflective tape.
A bat and nuisance wildlife removal specialist can also assist with evicting birds from your home fast.
Remove the Reason Birds Love Your Home
Remember, if you take away the things attracting birds to your home, you take away their reason for roosting or nesting on your home. Food, water and shelter.
Here are State Farm.com’s other surefire ways to tell birds to get lost.
- Water features: If you have a water feature, birds like geese will likely find it. Drain or cover the feature to keep birds out.
- Food that birds eat: Avoid plants that grow berries or cover them with fine metal netting. If a flock of birds is dominating your feeder, ask your local wildlife service what type of seed they won’t eat.
- Places they can roost: Keep birds away from trees and bushes by pruning them often to remove the cover birds seek.
We don’t want to live in a world without birds. But trust us folks, you don’t want to live with them. For costly bird home damage is no joke.
