Domestic birds such as sparrows or pigeons are lovely animals – they form one of the most vital parts of nature’s ecosystem. However, having birds such as these welcoming you on your porch is the last thing you want – the droppings that your “feathery friends” leave behind are far from pleasant.
Unfortunately, not many homeowners have time to constantly clean up after birds. Who’d want to pressure-wash his entire deck every time he wants to spend some time outside on a beautiful summer day? In addition to your porch, patio, or deck, the birds easily can ruin your pool, too.
Another important thing to mention here is that birds flocking to your porch can and will set the image of what your house is from the outside. You know the old saying – first impression lasts. After all, your porch is the very first part of your house that the visitors will see and step into, and it can be a truly unsightly welcome if it reeks of droppings.
How to deal with this problem? Is it even possible to keep the birds away from your porch? Don’t worry – we’re here to help you out. In this article, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at a couple of different strategies that can deter the birds and make them build their nests somewhere else.
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Remove What Attracts Birds
Before doing anything else, try to determine what makes your porch such an inviting environment for the birds. If you want to keep birds off your porch, you will, of course, have to make it a lot less hospitable.
Remove Your Bird Feeders
When trying to get rid of birds, a lot of homeowners tend to overlook the most obvious solution. Do you have a bird feeder or squirrel bird feeder on your property? Is it close to your porch? If so, you have two ways of solving the issue – you can either move the bird feeder to another part of your property or remove it altogether. Having the right food in a squirrel bird feeder or bird feeder is very tempting for the animals and they could be coming even more often.
The first way – moving the feeder to the front yard or to the very back of the yard – is something that can usually be done by those who have a large yard. If you move the feeder as far away from your porch as you can and the birds are still hanging around your patio, you’ll probably have to eliminate it completely.
Remove Bird Baths or Standing Water
Just like removing bird feeders, this is an obvious step. However, you also need to consider getting rid of any standing water you may have in your yard.
Not only does standing water make birds come to your property more often than they should, but it also draws in bugs such as mosquitoes. After a good downpour, take a walk around your property and see what you can find.
Watch Out for Colors
When trying to get rid of birds, a lot of people forget that these animals are attracted to certain colors. If you have things like rugs, tapestries, or similar outdoor decorations hanging around your deck, keep in mind that these may attract birds to nest on your porch and leave their droppings all over the place.
But now you may be wondering – which colors attract birds? As it turns out, it all depends on the specific species of the bird. Warblers and goldfinches, for example, are attracted to yellow. Orioles and hummingbirds are attracted to colors such as orange and red, while the bird species like jays or bluebirds like the blue color the most.
Scare the Birds Away
In this part of the article, we’ll be taking a closer look at various things and devices that may stop the birds from landing on your patio by scaring them with sound, light, or by their sheer presence.
Install a Repellent Device
If the simple strategies listed above fail and the birds are still present around your porch area, you’ll have to try to scare them away. One of the most effective ways of doing this is by purchasing and installing a bird repellent device.
These gadgets are typically battery-powered and emit a high-frequency sound that will keep birds away. Most birds find this high-frequency sound to be very annoying – once you install and turn on the device, the birds will fly away from your home as they can’t stand this insufferable sound only animals can hear.
If you do decide to try to get rid of birds in this way, keep in mind that doing something like this can also annoy your cats. However, this type of sound can’t get through thick walls – as long as they’re inside your home, the cats will be safe.
For a bird repellent device, check out the ZOVENCHI Ultrasonic Repeller. This is a solar-powered device that won’t only keep birds at bay but also a number of other unwanted animals.
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Hang Shiny & Reflective Things Around the Porch
Homeowners with lots of cats and dogs can’t really use ultrasonic devices like the one we’ve mentioned above and have to look for other methods. They have to try to solve the problem in a different, less harmful way. And one of the best harmless methods that you can use to scare the birds and keep them away from your house is by hanging reflective, shiny things, such as small mirrors, around your porch.
One of the best deterrents of this type on the market is the [amazon link=”B01N6970MN” title=”Ornamental Reflective Spiral Deterrent” /] made by Homescape Creations. This is one of those deterrents that consist of simple spiraling rods that, when hanged somewhere around the porch, do not ruin its overall appearance. In fact, they often add a decorative effect.
The rods keep the birds from landing and ruining your porch furniture by light reflections – the frequent sparkles are guaranteed to disorient the birds. These simple, reflective deterrents can be particularly frightening for the birds when they’re moving in a spiraling motion. Obviously, this item works best when you hang it right there on your doorway and when you pair it with wind chimes.
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Use Bird Spikes to Deter the Birds
So, there are no trees on your property close to your house and no food sources on your home’s porch. What could be the problem then? For many homeowners, it turns out to be the porch light fixture.
The porch light fixture provides birds with warmth and it’s a perfect place for them to nest (and leave some droppings below the fixture, too). Another thing that makes birds love the light fixtures is that the heat they emit actually helps with egg hatching.
Fortunately, this doesn’t mean that you’ll have to remove the light fixtures from your porch. You only have to make them inaccessible with some bird spikes.
Bird spikes are very easy to obtain and come in various forms and at various prices. As far as we’re concerned, the best option available is the [amazon link=”B0776HW4DY” title=”Abco Bird Spikes” /] – this product is extremely versatile and it’s also made out of plastic, so it won’t ruin the appearance of the light fixture on your porch.
Using bird spikes such as these is as easy as it gets – you just have to put them onto the fixture and the birds will find it impossible to land on it. In addition, make sure to place excess bird spikes on other areas of your porch too. For example, you could place some of these plastic bird spikes on railings, fences, or roof edges.
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The Power of Sound – Wind Chimes
Another great way of stopping the birds from nesting on your porch is by using wind chimes. It’s one of the simplest ways to scare the birds – when they’re hit by a breeze, wind chimes produce a sound that startles the bird and makes it move away quickly.
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This is among the simplest and most effective ways to scare brown grass birds, sparrows, pigeons, and similar small fowls. In addition, wind chimes can be used to prevent birds from nesting anywhere on your property – not just on your porch. Just make sure that the area you’ll be placing them at is at least a little bit windy.
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Scare the Birds With a Plastic Owl
If all the methods listed above fail to work, this one certainly won’t.
As you already know, a bird will be nesting and making a home out of your porch because she’ll see it as a safe space. The species you’re most likely to see near your home include mourning doves, starlings, blackbirds, crows, sparrows, and pigeons. What do these have in common? They’re all scared of predator birds, and that’s something you can and should use to your advantage.
To put a stop to bird droppings ruining your porch, buy a plastic owl with haunting eyes. It’s among the best bird deterrents a person can get for his home and something that works just like a scarecrow in a cornfield would. Place this plastic owl somewhere near your porch, like for example on a branch of a nearby tree. You can also put it on the fence or even on the roof ledge.
Once a bird sees this fake predator so close to your home, whether it’s a plastic owl or a hawk, it will undoubtedly stay away from the area. However, there’s a catch – for the scare to work as long as possible, you’ll need to place the owl in a different place every day. This is particularly important if crows often come to your porch – these birds are very intelligent and capable of detecting a decoy in case it doesn’t change positions.
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Use Spinning Pinwheels to Keep Birds Away
Do you remember those colorful, shiny pinwheels you’ve played with as a kid? As it turns out, these are just as useful as bird spikes or other methods when it comes to stopping the birds from nesting on your porch or anywhere in the surrounding area.
Once they’re hit by the wind, the pinwheels spin frantically. As you can probably guess, this creates noise and motion that scares the birds – they won’t dare come anywhere near the pinwheels. In addition, these small but effective little things are also reflective, which is sure to scare the feathery pests and make them build their nests elsewhere.
Just like in the case of bird spikes, you’ll want to use the pinwheels in all areas in which you have noticed the presence of bird droppings. Install, hang, and secure spinning pinwheels on the deck railing, on the top of your fence, or even in the garden that’s in front of your porch. Read also best evergreen shrubs for front of the house.
Small and inexpensive, the pinwheels will work for most of the day to keep the area clean of birds – it takes just a tiny bit of wind for them to start spinning. Birds may start ignoring them after a while, though, which is precisely why your best bet is to use them in combination with other strategies.
Get Rid of Birds With a Citrusy Repellent
If there’s one thing birds don’t like, it’s citrusy fragrances. They just can’t help it – once they smell it, they are sure to stay away from the area.
While you can certainly purchase a formula made specifically for repelling birds, you’ll want to make this repellent on your own. This is because making it by yourself is incredibly easy and inexpensive – you only need to squeeze a lemon into some water and then spray the mixture all over the areas where the birds like to hang out. To make the smell even stronger, you’ll want to place a couple of slices of lemon all over your porch.
Using a citrusy repellent instead of, say, bird spikes, comes with a couple of benefits, with the nice smell (for humans, at least) being the most obvious of them. In addition, this is a very subtle alternative when compared to things like spikes or decoys and it’s also quieter than noise emitters or spinning pinwheels.
Make the Surface Sticky!
Fortunately for homeowners, annoying the birds is an easy task. Another thing that these feathery pests really hate is the sticky sensation on their feet – they would rather spend their time on the firm and dry surfaces. You’ll want to use this to your advantage. After all, not all surfaces can be covered with bird spikes, but most of them can be made sticky.
So, in case a particular surface frequented by birds doesn’t allow the installation of spikes, you’ll want to get yourself something like Bird B Gone Transparent Bird Repellent and use it on the said surface. This particular product is colorless – you don’t need to worry about the gel ruining the appearance of your porch.
You’ll want to use a pair of gloves while applying the gel, though – it’s really sticky and it’s bound to put you on a washing spree if some of it ends up on your hands.
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Bonus – How Do I Keep the Birds Out of My Pool?
From spikes to fake predators, there are a number of items you can use to discourage the birds from coming near your porch. But what about pools? Floating bird droppings are the last thing you want to see while swimming in your pool on a hot summer day.
Fortunately, there are a couple of simple methods that can help with keeping the birds (and their poop) as far away from the pool as possible. These include:
Floating Pool Predators
As the name suggests, you can simply buy a rubber alligator or a snake and place it in your pool. A bird flying over the pool will probably want to land somewhere else once it sees one of these “terrifying” predators.
Inflatable Beach Balls
If you don’t really like the look of inflatable animals, go for the beach balls. While this may sound silly, these are great for scaring the birds – they’re colorful and constantly on the move due to the wind pushing them from one side of the pool to another.
The Fishing Line Trick
To prevent these animals from landing on the edge of your above-ground pool, secure some plastic clips along the edge and string a finish line between them. The finish line will prevent pigeons and sparrows from landing where they normally would, putting a stop to them pooping into your above-ground pool.
Check out my Garden Log Cabin vs Timber Shed comparison as well. And, if you need help with getting rid of insects from your garden, check out our guide to using Diatomaceous earth.
