Birds

Birds (pigeons, sparrows, starlings) removal in Charlotte, Matthews, Pineville, Monroe, Weddington, Waxhaw, Lake Norman, Mooresville, Huntersville, Davidson, Cornelius, Lake Wylie, Rock Hill, Gastonia and surrounding areas in North and South Carolina.

Pigeons, sparrows and starlings are not federally protected like all other birds when they become nuisance/pests.  Birds can transmit diseases through their feces contaminate food and deface buildings, signs, statues, vehicles and many more items.  They also attract ectoparasites (lice, mites, bedbugs, bat bugs, louse flies, fleas and ticks),

• Pigeons are the most serious urban bird pest in the country in both urban and rural areas.
• Pigeons do not construct a typical bird nest; instead they find a higher place where they form a crude platform of sticks, twigs and grasses clumped together with an accumulation of their own feces (sometimes just their feces!).  They rely on the structure where they nest to provide protection from the elements.
• Pigeons can go without food for several days but require water each day.
• Pigeons subsist on garbage, various grains and any food material provided intentionally or unintentionally by humans.
• Pigeon eggs hatch in three weeks and the young are mature in four to six weeks.  Breeding can occur in all seasons but peak reproduction is in the spring and fall.
• In urban situations pigeon flocks can be of several hundred individuals that roost, loaf (rest) and nest in several areas.
• Pigeons can live up to fifteen years but typically only live three to four years.  They are mainly creatures of habit and return to the same areas routinely.
• Sparrows are one of the most common urban birds.  They are successful because their foods are highly varied and they can utilize almost any habitat.  They can live in any part of residential and commercial buildings and will build a nest anywhere.
• Sparrows are prolific breeders.  They lay three to nine eggs up to five times per year.  The young are ready to fly (fledge) in two weeks.
• Sparrows in urban situations depend almost entirely upon human trash.  Of course they can eat other vegetable matter especially grains when available.
• Sparrows like to be in large groups (flocks) and nest, roost and feed together with a small range of usually one to two miles

• Starlings are very hardy and able to survive difficult conditions and severe winters.  They have 4-7 eggs twice a year.  The young mature in three weeks.
• Because sparrows have low mortality rates, they can form flocks of hundreds to thousands of birds.  Their vocalizations and the filth they produce are extremely annoying.  When large numbers harbor in trees these trees will often be killed by their feces.
• Starlings often displace(like sparrows) native “good” species of birds
• During the winter urban starling flocks will fly 15-30 miles from their roost to a food source and back.  When food is scarce they will feed on almost anything but they like insects, fruits, seeds and scraps of food in streets and garbage.
• Birds spread salmonella and campylobacteriosis (food poisoning), histoplasmosis (respiratory disease); ornithosis (pneumonia-like), west Nile virus (to mosquitos to people); and encephalitis amount others.

Management/removal/exclusion

Any good bird removal program requires a preliminary bird management survey to determine species, problems they are creating, and locations of roosting, nesting and feeding.

• A control program needs to try and remove food, water, harborage or some parts thereof.
• Trapping can be used on a limited basis or in the interior of buildings when birds are trapped in a structure.
• Sound, taste, tactile, mechanical and visual deterrents only produce temporary results.
• Because new birds can always fly into an area, the only permanent solution is to build them out using netting and other physical means to take away the roosting, loafing and nesting areas.
• Call for a personal evaluation and ask about PCAs exclusion warranties