Evaluate site conditions before choosing bird control technique

Erick Wolf, CEO, Innolytics

While there many different options, bird control strategies generally fall into three basic categories: exclusion/harassment, increasing mortality, and reducing reproduction. Your choice of technique is most often a function of site characteristics, the customer’s budget, and bird pressure.

You must evaluate conditions at each site — where the birds are nesting, how many birds/flocks are present, etc. — and make a recommendation about what tools are appropriate for the location, bird species, and realistic customer expectations.

But bird pressure is often the forgotten variable. Simply put, pressure is a measure of how attached the bird is to a location. For example, pigeons are resident birds that do not migrate. If they are nesting at the site, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to use harassment alone to get them to leave. Alternatively, migratory birds such as starlings might only invade the space during certain months of the year, and simply need an incentive to move on.

Evaluating bird pressure will help you select the most appropriate tool from your toolbox.