Who knows when a group of birds will visit your house and build a nest on your porch to take care of their babies. If they are already doing so, you probably understand how annoying it is and can’t wait to figure out the most strategic plan to get rid of them.
Birds may be lovable with their joyful melodies, but as soon as they decide to live on your porch, you will likely suffer frequent loud chirping, disgusting droppings, and an unsightly porch.
Don’t worry because in this article, I will guide you through eight useful tips on how to keep birds from nesting on porch. From letting your pets take over to setting up wind chimes, you will soon be able to solve your problem. Firstly, let’s discuss the reasons birds love nesting on porches.
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Why Do Birds Tend to Build Nests on Porches
Like other animals, nests are where birds stay, rest, and take care of their families. Thus, when choosing a nest, the bird’s priority criterion is safety. Because birds can fly, they will go for towering locations like tall trees, poles, chimneys, and porches most of the time.
Moreover, these places have to be well hidden to avoid flying predators. Altogether, porches are one of the most ideal options for birds since they offer excellent concealment and meet a moderate height. In addition, if there are twigs and dry leaves on your porch, birds will quickly notice and find it advantageous to set up a nest.
Tips to Stop Birds From Nesting on Your Porch
1. Use citrus repellent
Did you know that birds absolutely detest the smell of citrusy repellent? They find it very obnoxious and certainly won’t go near any place filled with that smell. However, for a chemical-free, natural, and harmless use, you can use lemon or mandarin juice.
Simply pour some water and citrus juice in a spray bottle and shake well. After that, spray this mixture all over your porch every two to three days. Besides this recipe, you can scatter your porch with lemon slides.
These citrus fragrance simultaneously help send birds away and maintain a fresh lemon smell for your doorway. Both of these methods are effortless, time-saving, and efficient to keep birds from nesting on your porch.
2. Count on your cat
Nothing can terrify birds more than cats. Birds are surely not going to approach any areas that give them an insecure feeling. Therefore, letting your cats wander around the porch can keep birds from building nests on the porch and visiting frequently. Instinctively, cats will notice the birds and chase them away.
You can set up a comfortable space for your cats to keep up its guard. Placing cat food, some of its favorite toys, and a soft sleeping rug is highly recommended.
Although cats can be an excellent “guard”, there are some drawbacks to this. You should remember that sometimes birds can escape and fly away very fast. After a while, cats will be tired of not being able to reach them and ultimately ignore the birds.
Apart from cats, letting your dog out is an option not to be missed. While cats prey on birds and kill them, dogs chase them away. However, you shouldn’t use cats and dogs as your prime solution because it is only useful in the short term. Instead, you should complement with other methods mentioned in this article.
Owls are another predator of birds. To scare birds away, you can purchase a fake owl and place it near your porch. Remember to look for one that looks as identical to the real one as possible; the more realistic the replica looks, the harder it is for birds to notice.
Its eyes should look haunting, the fur shouldn’t be made from plastic, and the head should be bobbling so it will move slightly when it’s breezing. Instead of leaving the owl in one spot, you might as well change its position everyday to give birds a sensation that a real predator is within the area.
Smart birds like crows, ravens, and jays might recognise the fake owls and assume they are harmless. Therefore, you need to be subtle when selecting one at the store and be patient in moving it frequently.
3. Remove dried leaves, twigs
Most bird species use plenty of twigs, tree branches, and dried leaves to build their nest. These materials are attractive to birds since they are very advantageous for building nest sites. The more of these materials there are in your porch, the quicker birds will notice and decide on your porch to build their nest. You probably don’t want your place to be filled with loud bird noises and filthy droppings, do you?
Start cleaning your porch as soon as possible. Remove twigs and leaves. You should also look around to see if there are any branches expanding to your house in case birds might perch there and sometimes leave some droppings. If so, you need to shear those branches.
4. Put the feeder far from your porch
Perhaps, birds only catch sight of your porch when you accidentally give them the chance to do so, which is feeding them near your porch. If your outdoor space is expansive, I suggest that the bird feeder is installed where the porch is completely out of the bird’s sight.
Also, remember to eliminate leftover food in the porch and the surrounding areas. Besides, installing a bird bath near the feeder is a great idea. Make sure the bird bath is filled with water to be an attractive place for birds to hang out without bothering other situations.
However, keep in mind that as long as you still feed them frequently, they will come back and sometimes even return with a large group. So, the number of birds visiting won’t reduce to zero but may decrease remarkably if you carefully combine different ways.
5. Install sets of bird spikes
When considering tools that help get rid of birds, bird spikes definitely need to be on your list. A few sets of bird spikes can be located on top of the light fixtures and other surfaces around your porch. With the presence of bird spikes, birds can not perch or even dare to come close to. Although these tools don’t guarantee a pleasant and stunning look for your house, their results are totally amazing and undeniable.
However, bird spikes are various in sizes, thus choosing a precise size is very important when purchasing them. If you have a set that is too wide, it only helps avoid medium to large birds and the small ones are still able to perch and rest. To pick an appropriate size and function, you should observe the birds visiting your house regularly and identify how big they are. Here is a video for a quick reference of installing bird spikes properly.
6. Install reflective and shiny objects
Another weakness of birds is light pollution, which is a type of pollution where there is more than enough light, both natural lighting and artificial lighting. When being put in this situation, birds tend to be confused and disoriented.
So, to chase birds away, you can start off by hanging sparkly and reflective rods nearby the porch or even on the porch. When these rods are hit with sunlight or the light bulbs in your house, they will be very shiny and the whole area where you hang these rods will be filled with extreme light to shoo the birds.
A bird repellent scare rod can be purchased at any decorating store. This is one of the most efficient and popular methods because these rods help prevent birds from nesting on porch in the long term and also become a part of your house’s decorations.
7. Display some wind chimes
Birds are absolutely frightened of loud wind chimes so they are an ideal option to make your porch bird-free. When wind chimes are hit by a breeze, the sound created is pleasant for us but the birds definitely can’t stand it.
As I mentioned above, birds will be disoriented when they are exposed to light. Therefore, it would be just right if you go for a set of wind chimes that are reflective. Another wonderful tip is that you can hang a wind chime right above the porch light because its exposing existence together with the ear-splitting sound will surely discourage birds from attempting to approach your porch.
Final thoughts
Hopefully, you have already figured out some efficient approaches to successfully get rid of birds nesting on the porch. To conclude, our eight simple hacks include spraying citrus juice, letting your cat out, placing a replica of an owl, removing twigs and dried leaves, putting feeders far from the porch, installing bird spikes, shiny rods and wind chimes.
You don’t have to apply all of these methods; depending on your situations, a few of them are already beneficial. Keeping your porch sanitary and bird-free not only helps you feel more comfortable but also improves visitor’s first impression of your house.
Whichever method on how to keep birds from nesting on porch you intend to carry out, make sure you don’t harm the birds. The point here is to chase them away, not hurt or kill them. In case the bird has already set up a nest on your porch and you can not remove it by yourself, I suggest that you call a local wildlife expert to relocate the birds.
Related:
- 13 Methods to keep birds from pooping on my porch
- Guide to get birds out of your garage
- Getting rid of birds from house attics
George and I became friends after a birdwatching trip with our new group. And we have been enjoying every adventure together. When he told me the idea of establishing a site that shares our experiences and fun, I immediately agreed. After trials and errors, here we have Thayerbirding.