Four Things You Can Do To Protect Your Home From Pest Birds

If you’re like most homeowners, you want to keep the outside of your home looking fresh and clean. But pest birds can change all that. Their droppings and nesting debris can quickly deface and often damage your home. Areas most vulnerable include siding, windowsills, patio cover, decorative weather vanes, solar panels, skylights, awnings and fencing.  Birds that typically cause problems include pigeons, sparrows, starlings, swallows and gulls. To keep bird pests at bay, the bird control experts at Bird-B-Gone have four suggestions that can help.

1.    Remove Attractions. Get rid of standing water, keep trashcan lids secure, clean up any leftover food after parties or get-togethers, and trim plants and vegetation.

2.    Install Bird Spikes. Bird-B-Gone Stainless Steel Bird Spikes won’t allow pest birds to land on or near them. These humane, highly effective bird deterrents feature rows of stainless steel spikes embedded in a UV-protected polycarbonate base. This makes them highly durable and ideal for outdoor use. Bird spikes are used worldwide to keep bird pests off ledges, rooflines, eaves, windowsills, awnings and canopies. The spiked strips come in two-foot sections and three different widths—3-, 5- and 8-inch—to match the width of the “problem” area. The base of each spiked strip is just 1.5 inches wide, so it’s easily installed on narrow surfaces using screws, tie downs or glue.

3.    Install a Sonic Bird Deterrent. Bird-B-Gone’s Solar Bird Chase Super Sonic broadcasts distress and predator calls that intimidate birds. You can set it to scare any of 22 specific bird types or choose the general setting to intimidate virtually all birds. Scientifically developed with the help of ornithologists, Solar Bird Chase Super Sonic repeats these calls every 10 minutes to convince birds that dangerous predators are near. Unlike ultrasonic devices that emit high-frequency sounds birds can’t hear, the Bird Chase system is fully audible to birds, yet it won’t annoy pets or neighbors. The device comes with a built-in speaker that will cover up to an acre.

4.    Create Visual Distraction Zones. Bird-B-Gone Visual Bird Deterrents will scare birds away. The most basic is Flash Tape, a 50-foot roll of iridescent foil tape that you cut into short strips. Hung in high visibility areas, the strips crackle in the breeze and reflect sunlight to scare birds away. No less effective is the Scare Eye Diverter, a tear-drop-shaped iridescent foil deterrent emblazoned with a large “predator” eye. The same holds true for the Bird Scare Balloon, a large inflatable “beach ball” that also has a big predator eye. When the Diverter and Balloon bob and weave in the wind, birds regard them as predators. For best results, Bird-B-Gone suggests that visual bird deterrents be moved around so that birds don’t get used to them.

Too Many Birds in Your Backyard?

Everyone enjoys the sound of a bird or two. And you may even have a birdbath and bird feeder in your backyard to attract them. But there comes a time when you just have one bird too many. Especially if your backyard is attracting crows or pigeons. They can make an awful racket and leave a huge mess on everything from patio furniture to BBQs.

If you have a pool or spa in your backyard, you’ll have a major cleaning chore if birds poop in the water—doing everything from emptying the pool to re-balancing pH levels. You just can’t leave bird droppings to gather anywhere, especially if you have kids or pets that touch and lick everything. Bird droppings can carry any of 60 known diseases—like salmonella.

If you’ve tried hanging metallic strips and old CDs or DVDs around your patio cover and trees, or placing inflatable owls on your patio table or serving bar--and the birds simply ignore them--you need to consider investing in some serious, professional bird control. Here’s one bird deterrent the pros recommend:

Solar Bird Chase Super Sonic

Scientifically designed to keep birds from landing, roosting and nesting in your backyard, the Solar Bird Chase Super Sonic fully exploits a bird's acute sense of hearing and natural fear of predators. Birds can recognize and remember sounds in absolute pitch. Birds can also hear shorter notes than humans. We process sounds in bytes about 1/20th of a second; birds only need 1/200th of a second. Some birds, like pigeons, hear much lower sounds than we do. One thing birds share with humans is their range of hearing, which is most sensitive between 2,000 Hz and 4,000 Hz.

Highly effective against many bird species

The Solar Bird Chase Super Sonic uses this knowledge of birds to create a highly effective sonic bird deterrent. In fact, the device can broadcast distress and predator calls that birds find particularly alarming. It recreates the sound of Peregrine falcons (a pigeon's dreaded enemy) defending their territory. Or the sounds of predator hawks screeching and gulls under attack. These sounds are repeated regularly--about once every 10 minutes. The Bird Chase system is also highly versatile, emitting distress and predator calls for as many as 22 types of birds. So you can set the system to emit distress and predator calls to deter starlings, seagulls, pigeons, crows, swallows, woodpeckers, sparrows, grackles, cormorants and many others.

Won’t annoy pets or your neighbors

The other good thing about the Solar Bird Chase Super Sonic is that it’s highly effective without annoying pets or humans. That’s because the sounds it emits simply resemble normal bird sounds.

Easy to set up

The Bird Chase Super Sonic is designed for outdoor use. It can be mounted on your patio cover or under an eave. Set in the sun for at least 8 hours to charge the batteries, set it for a specific bird, or to the general setting, and the device will protect a full acre of backyard day and night.

A Very Sound Bird Control Strategy for Your Home

While the sounds of birds chirping by your window may be pleasant, the damage birds leave behind may not be. Birds can ruin the appearance of your front porch, back patio, gazebo, pool or spa. They can peck and nest under your roofing tiles causing leaks. Bird droppings eat into paint, wrought iron, patio furniture, cushions and BBQs.

Cleaning bird droppings can get very messy. Everything you wash them off with should be disinfected or thrown away. If you try to simply brush droppings off when they’re dry, you'll aerate the germ-filled dust, which can carry some very nasty diseases—like salmonella.

So how do you keep birds away this summer—without harming them? One very effective and humane solution uses a sound approach. It’s called the Bird Chase Super Sonic.

The Science of Sonic Bird Deterrents

Scientifically designed to keep birds from landing, roosting and nesting on your property, the Bird Chase Super Sonic fully exploits a bird's heightened sense of hearing and its natural fear of predators. Birds can recognize and remember sounds in absolute pitch (the ability to reproduce a tone without reference to an external standard). Birds can also recognize 'timbre' (a fundamental note combined with harmonies). And birds hear shorter notes than humans. We process sounds in bytes about 1/20th of a second; birds just need 1/200th of a second. So in the time it takes humans to hear one sound, birds hear up to ten separate notes. Some birds, like pigeons, hear much lower sounds than humans. One thing birds have in common with us is range of hearing, which is most acute between 2,000 Hz and 4,000 Hz.

Using Distress and Predator Calls to Deter Birds

The Bird Chase Super Sonic can broadcast the distress and predator calls for 22 different species of birds. This includes the sounds of Peregrine falcons (a pigeon's dreaded enemy) defending their territory. Or the sounds of predator hawks screeching and gulls under attack, sounds that strike fear in the hearts of starlings and seagulls. Which means the Bird Chase sound bird deterrent can be set to deter virtually any bird that has become a problem on your property--pigeons, crows, starlings, swallows, gulls, woodpeckers, sparrows, grackles, cormorants and many others. And since it continually alters the pitch, frequency, timing and intensity of these sounds, the "threat" is kept fresh and alive to deter birds that may quickly get used to repetitive sounds. The distress and predator calls are repeated regularly--about once every fifteen minutes.

Non-Annoying to Humans and Pets

Another key advantage of the Bird Chase device is that the sounds it emits resemble normal bird calls to humans. And pets aren’t bothered by them. What’s more, unlike ultrasonic bird deterrents that emit sounds birds can’t hear and do annoy pets, the Bird Chase unit is fully audible to all birds and thus very effective.