There is a great deal of work that goes into maintaining and protecting your property, whether you use it for commercial or residential purposes. Critters of all kinds, from insects to birds and beyond, can be serious and ongoing impediments to efficient upkeep. Pest birds such as pigeons and seagulls are especially problematic.
Birds make messes with their waste, their nests can clog gutters or be unsightly, and they can attract other creatures that are unsavoury. Yet try as you might, you can’t get rid of them.
Let’s look at four reasons why pest birds, especially pigeons, choose your property, and what you can do to prevent them from landing and nesting in the first place.
1. Your Property Is Close to a Source of Food or Water
As with most animals, birds’ primary objective from day to day is to stay alive by avoiding prey and finding plenty of food. If your house is close to a source of food or water, they’re much more likely to nest there. Pigeons especially choose rooftops where they can see when their daily snack becomes available.
If you live near a restaurant, it might be that the pigeons use your rooftop to watch for the proprietor to take out the trash. Or it might be as simple as the child next door leaving their sandwich crusts on the ground at lunchtime.
If the source of food isn’t directly on your property, it’s difficult to control its availability in order to prevent birds nesting. Instead, this is a great place to utilise stainless steel spikes. Bird spikes in Australia are especially effective because they work for all kinds of pest birds and are cruelty-free. They do not harm birds in any way; they merely make it inhospitable and uncomfortable for them to land.
2. You Have Created a Food Source
It might also be possible that you have created a source of food without realising it. Perhaps you installed a birdfeeder intending to attract sweet, non-invasive birds. Or it might be that the vegetables or other plants in your garden are especially appealing to pest birds.
Observe the birds’ behavior to look for patterns, and if you’ve created a food source, you can always do away with it. Or visit a bird spikes supplier to learn about your options for using stainless steel spikes instead.
3. The Property Is Comfortable for Them
Besides food, there are other ways in which your property might be particularly comfortable for birds. If your property provides shelter from the elements that is easily accessible to birds, such as under eaves on a porch or under an awning, this is a reason they may have settled in for a long stay. Placing bird spikes in those locations can be effective in ridding your property of the unwanted guests. Observe where they nest and install spikes in those places.
4. They Are Safe From Predators
Certainly, safety from predators is another way that your property might be particularly comfortable for pest birds. This is especially true when it comes to protecting their eggs from predators. While birds will perch in the open during the day, they seek shelter at night when their predators are most active. If your roof provides a vantage point for locating food but your property also offers safe shelter, such as under a ledge, all the better.
The key here is preventing them from landing on the roof in the first place. Stainless steel spikes are some of the best items for achieving this end.
Use Caution
It is important to think of your property as a mini biome, in which multiple species make their home and live their lives. They feed or otherwise live off of one another and complete a cycle that supports symbiosis and homeostasis. Disrupting this can be damaging in more ways than expected.
Luckily, using bird spikes in Australia is one of the least disruptive ways to keep pest birds away. You don’t completely eliminate them from your property or harm them using chemicals, but you do prevent them from nesting or roosting. Everyone wins!