Sitting in the outdoor area of your house while enjoying cool winds and sunset is an effective way to relax after a stressful day. But what is worse than going outside and finding out that birds have pooped on your patio, and you can no longer enjoy your evening.
Even though birds are beautiful creatures that we love to hear and are an extremely important part of the ecosystem, they can cause problems when they decide to make our patios dirty by either pooping or making their homes in them.
Cleaning the affected areas is an issue many face since it requires significant time to fully pressure wash the areas before spending time outside. Seeing bird droppings floating in your pool is another unpleasant site we do not want to witness every day.
How To Keep Birds From Taking Over Your Patio
People these days spend a substantial amount of money to make their patios comfortable. But it is also important for homeowners to take steps to keep birds off the patio. We have compiled a few ways for protecting your patios from birds.
Fake Predator Birds
The most common birds in our outdoor areas are sparrows, blackbirds, crows, starlings, robs, and morning doves. Most of these birds maintain a safe distance from predator birds like owls and hawks. Homeowners can use this fact to keep birds away from their patios. Placing fake predators, for example, a plastic hawk or owl bought from local home stores, on a visible place like a tree or a fence would allow birds to notice the fake predator and stay away from your patio. The most important technique for this method is to keep moving the position of your fake predator to avoid birds from getting familiar with the bird’s position since that could ruin the entire purpose of this method.
Hang Mirrors or Bird Diverters
Another effective way to deter birds is making mirror hangings using locally bought mirrors or reflective bird diverters and hanging them with the fence or tree branches using a string, rope, or ribbon. Mirrors would keep birds off your patio since they might get tricked by thinking that another bird is already there when it is their reflection. The bird diverter has tags with a predator’s eye on them.
The idea of another bird being present also signals that there might be no food left now at this location. This technique might also be useful since birds are known to dislike shiny, moving objects. Since this is a cheap and effective option, it can be implemented by all homeowners to prevent birds from coming to their patios while also making their outdoor spaces aesthetically pleasing.
Remove or Reposition water and food sources
To keep birds away from outdoor spaces, homeowners can also implement ideas that make their patios look less attractive to birds. The presence of a fountain or birdbath presents an open invitation to birds to come to stay there for a long time.
Birds adore fountains and birdbaths since they provide a water source for drinking and bathing, especially in the summer season. Homeowners can either remove water sources from their patio since they already cause a lot of hassle or reposition them to a corner where it might be difficult for birds to spot them.
Likewise, food sources like bird feeders provide birds with an open invitation to your patio. While you might be interested in feeding the birds, their pooping problem can ruin your evening plans of spending time outdoor. The solution is the same; remove the feeder or relocate it to the far end of your patio.
Trimming and Relocating Shrubbery
Birds usually make their nests to lay their eggs in thick shrubbery. This provides cover to their nests and protects the bird’s eggs from predators. If you have heavy shrubbery on your patio, you must consider pruning them.
This would keep birds off your patio and prevent them from forming nests. It is often noticed that birds are attracted to trees that produce nuts and fruits. Homeowners can consider hanging bird diverters on such trees. However, homeowners can relocate and transplant trees elsewhere if the problem continues.
Hang Wind Chimes
While hanging wind chimes would make the outdoor area look aesthetically pleasing, it would also fulfill the purpose of deterring birds from your patio. Birds dislike the shiny surfaces and get scared by the unfamiliar sound of the wind chimes. Hanging wind chimes from trees, fences, or furniture would prevent birds from coming near your patio and produce a soothing sound for your relaxing hours.
Install Ultrasonic Sound System
Sound systems are another way of keeping birds away from your patio. While multiple sound systems are available in the market, ultrasonic sound systems are extremely useful as they emit high-pitched noise when they sense a flying bird that scares birds. The human ear cannot detect this noise, so they do not cause noise pollution.
Hang Metallic Pinwheels
Moving objects like pinwheels are a great tool to scare birds off and keep them away from your patio. These wheels spin around when the air hits, causing noise and motion, scaring birds. The pinwheels are made of metallic material, which reflects light, causing birds to get scared.
Pinwheels are available in multiple colors in the market, but buying metallic ones would be more useful in keeping birds away from outdoor areas.
Deter Birds with Smell
It is known that the smell of Garlic, Chilli, Bird Gel, Vinegar, Essential oils, and Cayenne Pepper deter birds since they dislike the smell. This is a simple yet effective way of keeping birds away from your patio. These smell-containing products can be used as alternatives to decoys and can be placed in unreachable places by birds.
Also, the aromas of the following products are liked by humans, so they would not cause the areas to be selly.
Shock or Spike
Homeowners can also buy pointy spikes and install them in spiral form on your roof or railings to prevent birds from landing on your patio. An electric shock system would also help deter birds by giving them a harmless but memorable shock that would make them uncomfortable.
Preventing birds from coming to your patio and causing unnecessary trouble is possible. The ideas given above will give you some ideas about keeping birds away.