While many people enjoy birdwatching as a hobby, birds are much less pleasant when they’re hanging around your business. Birds can become a nuisance and cause multiple problems for Long Island businesses. Find out what you can do if you notice birds taking over your property and hurting your Long Island business.
What Birds Bother Long Island Businesses?
In the Long Island area, you’re likely to come across several common types of pest birds. You’re already familiar with pigeons and their strutting. Another common pest is the starling, a stocky black bird known for mimicking the calls of other bird species. With its brown and black body and small size, the sparrow is also a well-known local bird.
Although you might love birds, you don’t want pigeons, starlings, or sparrows near your Long Island business. Resist the temptation to admire and feed the birds, as they will soon become pests that put your business in jeopardy.
How Are Birds Dangerous?
None of the local bird species are known to be aggressive. So what is it that makes these birds so dangerous? There are a few ways in which having birds on your property can be harmful.
First, they can carry diseases. In bird droppings and nesting materials, there can be diseases lurking. Their droppings or materials have the potential to carry as many as 60 diseases and parasites. If a child, senior, or immuno-compromised individual comes into contact with one of these diseases, they could experience a serious illness. Your customers and employees are in danger when pest birds are around.
Second, birds can make you liable for a slip and fall accident. When they defecate on sidewalks, birds leave behind a slippery mess. Someone could walk by and fall, which might leave you with a personal injury lawsuit.
Birds can cause property damage. Some birds nest near ventilation ducts, and doing so is a fire hazard. Others leave nesting materials in gutters, clogging them up. As a result, your business could experience water damage. Birds also cause additional problems with their droppings. Their feces is corrosive and could eat away at certain materials on your building.
Finally, birds may keep customers away. If you have too many birds nesting on or near your property, customers will notice. They may take it as a sign that you don’t maintain or care about your business.
Keeping Birds Away
If you don’t want birds to affect your business, there are measures that you can take. For one, you can hide potential food sources. Keep your garbage cans sealed tightly and don’t leave food outside. Never feed the birds, or they will decide to nest on your property.
Another way to keep birds away is to limit their nesting sites. Typically, the birds in the area like to nest on ledges, holes in roofs, and in cracks in wood. You can install bird deterrents, like spikes, and seal up cracks and holes in your building.
As a final DIY bird control method, remove debris from around your property. If sticks and other debris are readily available, birds will use them for nesting. A lack of debris could force them to find new nesting sites.
The best bird deterrent method is to work with an experienced pest control company. Because we have knowledge of bird infestations and ample resources, we know how to keep birds away. We can resolve your pest problem and save your business. Contact Parkway Pest Services to learn more about our pest bird control program!