Last updated on June 12th, 2022 at 01:33 am
Nuisance birds can leave droppings, spread disease, and keep other wildlife from enjoying your yard. So how do you keep them away?
To rid your yard of nuisance birds, try covering up nesting spots with fake ivy or netting and implementing scare flags and reflective features in areas where you want to keep birds away. This will scare them into staying away and leave you with a peaceful, nuisance bird-free backyard.
Making Your Yard Bird-Proof
The most effective way to keep nuisance birds away is to remove the resources that attract them there in the first place.
This includes water features like ponds, foods like berry-bearing bushes, and roosting spots like trees and bushes.
You should also remove other food sources, including open containers of livestock feed.
You can also install scare flags that move in the wind to keep the birds away or use reflective, lighted, or noisy lawn ornaments.
Some garden owners use foil pans or silver reflective tape to keep birds away from certain plants or areas.
However, removing these features or installing scare flags will push away all birds, not just the nuisance ones. So how do you target certain birds?
You can use other methods of deterring birds to rid certain areas of your yard of birds, which can help target certain species and not others.
For example, you can use a fishing line and wires to create a barrier for geese or do something similar with netting.
Alternatively, you can sprinkle baking soda or spray a mix of chili pepper, water, and vinegar on the areas where birds like to perch to keep them away.
However, these chemical methods may breach the Migratory Bird Treaty Act if you’re not careful.
Migratory Bird Treaty Act
Under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, removing, relocating, or harming native migratory birds in the United States is illegal.
That means that while you can put up barriers to protect areas from birds, you cannot knowingly harm native species or take away their nests.
Your best bet is to prevent birds from being attracted to your yard and nesting in the first place.
You can use fake ivy to seal off crevices where birds might nest, or you can use wind chimes or a pinwheel to scare birds away from a potential nesting spot.
If you’re dealing with an invasive bird species, you don’t have to worry as much about doing no harm as far as the law is concerned.
But you should still seek out humane methods of removal first.
How To Keep Birds From Swooping at You
One of the worst parts about nuisance birds is that they swoop at you to defend their nests, potentially causing injury or infection.
This behavior is often short-lived, lasting just through the breeding season and not leading to an altercation.
However, it can be quite uncomfortable when it does happen.
Swooping is best prevented by keeping birds from nesting in the first place, but you can also try moving quietly and slowly where there’s a known bird nest.
Scaring birds away can also be effective, but be careful not to provoke or scare a bird while it’s defending a nest.
Common Nuisance Birds in the United States
The most common nuisance birds in the United States are pigeons, starlings, and sparrows.
Each requires its methods of control and prevention and carries its risks.
The more you understand which birds are in your area and what potential problems they cause, the more you’ll effectively address these issues.
Pigeons
Pigeons are both the most common nuisance birds in the United States and the biggest culprits for spreading disease.
They spread the following diseases:
- Candidiasis
- Cryptococcosis
- St. Louis encephalitis
- Salmonellosis
- They may also carry several parasites, including bed bugs and chicken mites.
- Their nests can also be home to yellow mealworms.
Most commonly, these diseases are spread through pigeon droppings.
However, they can also be spread through mosquitoes or other insects who feed on pigeon blood and bite a human.
You can recognize a pigeon by its distinctive grey and blue appearance. They’re about a foot long and weigh 13 oz, bigger than most birds.
Starlings
Like pigeons, starlings can be responsible for spreading cryptococcosis or salmonellosis.
These diseases can spread en masse when starlings or other birds leave droppings on air vents or air conditioners.
This causes the dust from the droppings to be sucked into buildings and circulated.
Starlings are not a native species to the United States, and they travel in large flocks that can reach thousands of members.
They can be quite noisy, which is often the chief complaint of residents of starling territory.
They can also contaminate livestock feed with their droppings, kill trees, and leave nesting materials in machinery, causing malfunction.
Starlings are dark birds about 8” long and 2 ½ oz in weight.
They have darker bills and white dots on their feathers in the winter, but they have yellow bills with duller, less speckled coats in the summer.
House Sparrows
House sparrows are a type of finch that belongs to a family of weaver finches.
They are known for their messy nests made from twigs, grass, string, and paper, often constructed in covered areas high in the sky like stadiums, warehouses, and airport hangars.
They reproduce extremely quickly and stick together in large groups.
Some of the biggest problems caused by sparrows are electrical shorts and fires caused when they nest in electrical areas.
They may also contaminate poultry and hog farms, common congregations for house sparrows.
House sparrows are associated with more than 25 diseases and parasites, including St. Louis encephalitis and salmonellosis.
They are stocky and small, about 5-6 inches long, weigh an ounce, and have brownish-grey features.
The males have a black throat, while the females have a white throat and an eye stripe.
Geese
Geese are particularly aggressive and noisy, and they leave droppings that can spread disease or simply be a nuisance.
They are native migratory birds, however, so they cannot be removed or hurt in any way.
You can simply set up barriers to keep them away. Visual scare tactics also work well with geese.
You can also buy commercial goose repellent like the Flight Control Goose Repellent from Amazon.
This repellent is odorless to humans, waterproof, and non-toxic but makes the area unappealing for geese.
This makes it a humane and effective solution for keeping geese off your grass.