What You Need to Know About These Common Pest Birds

  Many people love birds. They hang bird feeders in their trees, place bird baths on their lawns and love to sit sipping their early morning coffee and listen to the melodious chirping of their feathered friends. But while you may love birds in your garden, you do not want them moving into your home. The birds themselves may be harmless but living with an attic full of them is not. And over a long period of time, a bird infestation can cause serious health and safety issues. Animal control experts in Durham can help keep the balance of our relationship with birds. Ensuring that we can continue to enjoy their presence, while not worrying about them entering our homes. Continue reading for more information.  

Where do Birds Like to Build Their Nests?

  Just like us, when choosing a home, birds look for comfort and security. They will build their nests anywhere that is sheltered, comfortable and appears to be safe from predators. In your home, a few of their favourite places are air-vents, the attic, the garage, along with the roof-lines, any exterior crack or holes, roof vents, wall vents, dryer vents, downspouts, and chimneys. The most common time for birds to move indoors is during the spring, when they are looking for places to build their nests and lay their eggs, so be vigilant during this time and look for any signs of bird activity, paying special attention to their places.

What are the Risks of Birds in the Home?

  Besides being noisy and messy, birds bring with them a multitude of potential risks. Wild birds often play host to numerous parasites like fleas, lice, mites, and ticks and these can easily spread to people and pets. Birds can cause severe damage to your property by bringing unwanted and potentially dangerous debris into your home that can become a fire hazard. They also block downpipes with their nests, causing gutters to overflow and damage the walls of your property.   [video width="640" height="360" mp4="https://www.skedaddlewildlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Blog-5.starling-disease-mites.mp4"][/video]   When bird droppings dry out they can become an airborne hazard and spread rapidly throughout your home, especially if the birds have been nesting in your air-vents. Bird droppings can spread diseases to people and pets, including histoplasmosis, avian tuberculosis, Lyme disease, lymphoproliferative disease, fowl pox, salmonella, trichomoniasis, and encephalitis. Even once the birds have been removed, their droppings can still pose a threat to your health and the area needs to be thoroughly cleaned with appropriate products designed to kill bacteria and prevent the spread of diseases.

Humane Bird Removal and Control

  The birds that are most commonly removed from homes are doves, pigeons, blackbirds, sparrows, swallows, and starlings. If you notice that birds have moved into your home, don’t ignore the problem thinking that they will get tired of living with you and eventually move on. It just doesn’t work like that and once birds move into your house they are unlikely to move out again without some form of encouragement.     If you do have a bird problem in your Durham home, you need to call in an animal control expert to remove them humanely. In Canada, birds are protected by the Migratory Birds Convention Act and this means that if they are not treated humanely during the removal process you could end up unwittingly breaking the law. Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control has years of experience removing birds from properties in the Durham area and we only use humane animal control methods. We don’t trap, bait or kill the birds. If we find nests with eggs or baby birds, we remove them appropriately and place them in a temporary nest outside their entrance point. This allows the birds to grow up safely and once they have left the nest we remove it from your property. We don’t just rid your home of nuisance birds, we also bird proof properties to prevent future infestations.