3 Ways to Keep Pest Birds Off Your Front Porch

by Alex A. Kecskes

Many homes, especially in the south, have beautiful front porches. These areas are perfect for relaxing with friends and neighbors, especially in the evenings when cool breezes waft across front gardens and rustle through the trees. But unless you implement some effective bird control measures, your beautiful front porch may be covered with disease-carrying bird droppings, nests and nesting materials. You’ll also have to put up with birds zooming in on any snacks you may have placed on a table.

Without adequate bird deterrents, you’ll have birds nesting on your front roof, in alcoves of your front porch and even in your gain gutters. As pretty as some birds are and as melodious as they sound, birds can become a nuisance around your front porch.

Yes, you can shoo them away, squirt them with a hose, or even try bird poisons, but these methods are typically ineffective and inhumane. The only solution is to use proven bird deterrents. Here are three bird deterrents the pros use most often on homes like yours:

Red-Tail Hawk Decoys

As decorative as they are effective, Red-Tail Hawk Decoys have been widely used to discourage many a pest bird from specific areas around a home. Hawks, you see, hunt during the day when most pest birds are active, so using hawk decoys is a better deterrent than owl decoys, which hunt at night when most birds are asleep. Opt for the most realistic looking decoy you can find. And make sure it’s made of heavy duty plastic to stay real looking after several seasons outdoors. Finally, move the decoy around frequently to convince curious birds that the decoy is more than a dummy.

Plastic Bird Netting

To deter pest birds from specific areas of your front porch, you should use Plastic Bird Netting. This barrier bird deterrent can also be used to protect any fruit trees, bushes, and gardens around your front porch. Plastic netting usually comes in 14 x 100-foot and 14 x 200-foot rolls. Mesh sizes vary according to the specific bird you need to block out. You would  use a 1/4-inch mesh for small birds like starlings, and perhaps a 3/4-inch mesh for crows. High quality plastic bird netting is made from durable, U.V.-protected polypropylene and comes with a 1-year guarantee. It’s strong, light and virtually invisible. One manufacturer even offers handy clips for fast, easy installation.
 
Sonic Bird Deterrents

If you you have a large front  porch area, Sonic Bird Deterrents are the way to go. They broadcast bird distress and predator calls that sound like normal bird activity to humans. So they won’t annoy your pets, friends or neighbors. One highly versatile sonic system can emit distress and predator calls for as many as 22 different species of birds. It covers up to an acre and can be programmed to turn on or off at night.

3 Ways to Keep Pest Birds Off Your Front Porch

by Alex A. Kecskes

Many homes, especially in the south, have beautiful front porches. These areas are perfect for relaxing with friends and neighbors, especially in the evenings when cool breezes waft across front gardens and rustle through the trees. But unless you implement some effective bird control measures, your beautiful front porch may be covered with disease-carrying bird droppings, nests and nesting materials. You’ll also have to put up with birds zooming in on any snacks you may have placed on a table.

Without adequate bird deterrents, you’ll have birds nesting on your front roof, in alcoves of your front porch and even in your gain gutters. As pretty as some birds are and as melodious as they sound, birds can become a nuisance around your front porch.

Yes, you can shoo them away, squirt them with a hose, or even try bird poisons, but these methods are typically ineffective and inhumane. The only solution is to use proven bird deterrents. Here are three bird deterrents the pros use most often on homes like yours:

Red-Tail Hawk Decoys

As decorative as they are effective, Red-Tail Hawk Decoys have been widely used to discourage many a pest bird from specific areas around a home. Hawks, you see, hunt during the day when most pest birds are active, so using hawk decoys is a better deterrent than owl decoys, which hunt at night when most birds are asleep. Opt for the most realistic looking decoy you can find. And make sure it’s made of heavy duty plastic to stay real looking after several seasons outdoors. Finally, move the decoy around frequently to convince curious birds that the decoy is more than a dummy.

Plastic Bird Netting

To deter pest birds from specific areas of your front porch, you should use Plastic Bird Netting. This barrier bird deterrent can also be used to protect any fruit trees, bushes, and gardens around your front porch. Plastic netting usually comes in 14 x 100-foot and 14 x 200-foot rolls. Mesh sizes vary according to the specific bird you need to block out. You would  use a 1/4-inch mesh for small birds like starlings, and perhaps a 3/4-inch mesh for crows. High quality plastic bird netting is made from durable, U.V.-protected polypropylene and comes with a 1-year guarantee. It’s strong, light and virtually invisible. One manufacturer even offers handy clips for fast, easy installation.

Sonic Bird Deterrents

If you you have a large front  porch area, Sonic Bird Deterrents are the way to go. They broadcast bird distress and predator calls that sound like normal bird activity to humans. So they won’t annoy your pets, friends or neighbors. One highly versatile sonic system can emit distress and predator calls for as many as 22 different species of birds. It covers up to an acre and can be programmed to turn on or off at night.

USA Bird Control Measures for Canada Geese

by Alex A. Kecskes

Populations of Canada Geese have been on the increase over the last decade due to their protected status by both Federal and State agencies. USA bird control experts estimate there are approximately a dozen subspecies of Canada geese, ranging in size from 22 to 48 inches long and weighing from 3 pounds to 24 pounds. Regrettably, Canada geese like to graze and nest on corporate lawns and around fountains, as well as in parks and on golf course greens. These migratory birds have, of late, adopted the easy living conditions of urban environments, preferring to nest in protective vegetation.

Canada geese are highly aggressive and will run after animals and people--sometimes frightening children at parks. Trampling, defecating and eating, these geese cause considerable damage to agricultural crops, golf course lawns, reservoirs, ponds, and green belts. Geese roosting in open areas near airports have been known to create potentially dangerous bird strike collisions.

USA Bird Control Measures for Starlings and Grackles

They're small but they can be really annoying and bothersome. They're Starlings and Grackles. And to know them is to help rid your property of them. But before we get to the USA bird control methods and devices you can use to control them, here are a few facts you might find interesting.

Starlings--urbanized to survive

While starlings weren't native to America, they have adapted well to urban life and its many nesting and food sites. A dark, compact, muscular bird, starlings are unlike other blackbirds because they have a short tail and longer, slender bill. Starlings often invade an area in huge flocks--sometimes in the tens of thousands. In these massive numbers, the birds drive out other native bird species. And they leave behind quite a mess in droppings and debris.

Grackles--aggressive colonizers

Common grackles are about 12-inches long with the female being somewhat smaller. Boat-tailed and great-tailed grackles are slightly larger than the common grackle measuring about16-inches in length. Like starlings and other blackbirds, grackles are aggressive, often colonizing in massive flocks to seize control of buildings and drive out native birds.

USA Bird Control Measures for Canada Geese

Image via Wikipediaby Alex A. Kecskes

Populations of Canada Geese have been on the increase over the last decade due to their protected status by both Federal and State agencies. USA bird control experts estimate there are approximately a dozen subspecies of Canada geese, ranging in size from 22 to 48 inches long and weighing from 3 pounds to 24 pounds. Regrettably, Canada geese like to graze and nest on corporate lawns and around fountains, as well as in parks and on golf course greens. These migratory birds have, of late, adopted the easy living conditions of urban environments, preferring to nest in protective vegetation.

Canada geese are highly aggressive and will run after animals and people--sometimes frightening children at parks. Trampling, defecating and eating, these geese cause considerable damage to agricultural crops, golf course lawns, reservoirs, ponds, and green belts. Geese roosting in open areas near airports have been known to create potentially dangerous bird strike collisions.

USA Bird Control Measures for Pigeons

USA Bird Control Spikes

by Alex A. Kecskes

No one need tell public or private property owners that pigeons can be a costly nuisance. Classified as the most troublesome pest bird by USA bird control pros, feral pigeons create a mess and cause damage wherever they roost. These descendants of domesticated European homing pigeons not only eat just about anything, but they are quite at home in most man-made buildings and structures.

With short legs, hind toes and a level front, pigeons can perch virtually anywhere--on pipes, ledges, wires, beams and archways. They'll even hop onto table tops where people are eating and snatch food from children's hands. Pigeons usually nest in tight little areas that are elevated, including ledges, A.C. units or window sills. Some pigeons have been known to lay eggs on a protected ledge or similar surface.