Birds
Starlings (above), Swallows, and Pigeons (below) are often fun to watch; they are very comfortable around people and they see no problem in building nests on our structures. Swallows build mud nests in sheltered overhangs like those under bridges and beneath our rooflines. Unlike Swallows, Starlings and Pigeons are not native to San Diego. They were introduced from Europe and have flourished in the new world where they live in flocks, sometimes numbering in the thousands. They are messy birds, whose droppings can ruin the finish on a car, deface our houses and buildings, and render park benches unusable. They also build nests in our eaves and overlapping rooflines.
Pigeons have become totally dependent on humans for food and nesting sites. They are commonly found in overlapping rooflines of residences and on top of many government and commercial buildings here in North County and cause millions of dollars of damage every year with their droppings and other contamination problems.
Pigeons construct nests out of sticks, grass, pieces of cloth, and other debris that they can scrounge out of our yards and they prefer to return to the same nesting sites year after year. These birds have been known to carry many diseases that can be transmitted to man, but they can also become serious pests when they move out at the end of the nesting season, because they leave their nest behind … full of bird mites.
It is always a good idea to keep birds from nesting on our houses and other structures. If you discourage birds, and direct them away from homes in the springtime, while they are building nests, they have an opportunity to build in natural structures, like trees and cliff faces. Non native species of birds, such as Starlings and Pigeons can cause a lot of damage to our local ecology and they should be discouraged, not fed! It is not helpful to your neighbors when you encourage these destructive species.
There are several types of bird exclusion devices that can be purchased at your hardware store. Usually the easiest to install are nets and spike strips. If you live here in San Diego’s North County, contact us for help or advice. But you should be proactive; exclusion is effective and humane only if it is done at the first of the season, before the nests are built and the eggs are laid. When you remove nests you should have a plan to control the mites!