[Special Supplement: Bird Control] When Birds Fly in

Birds may make a spring day more enjoyable, but when they take up residence in food plants and other facilities, sparrows, pigeons and starlings become a potential source of damage, disease and contamination. Some of the most common options for eliminating birds in a facility include:

• Trapping
• Structural repellents
• Chemical repellents
• Baits
• Direct kill

Copesan experts throughout North America have provided tips on which methods and integrated approaches have worked best for them when attempting to remove birds from facilities. Their stories follow.

Show Them the Light
By Earl Hallberg, Technical Service Manager, Presto-X, Omaha, Neb.

When a species of birds first enters your customer’s structure, turn off the lights inside the area and open the doors so that the birds can see the daylight. Many times they will fly back out of the structure toward the light. For birds that have been in the structure for awhile and are not willing to leave, we have used mist nets, baited live traps and nest boxes with self-closing doors for English sparrows.

Shooting For a 90 Percent Success Rate
By Richard Berman, Technical Director, Waltham Services, Waltham, Mass.

Over the years, we’ve tried mist nets, glue boards, nest boxes, water to attract birds to capture devices, and on a couple of unusual occasions, Avitrol mixed seeds. Sometimes these approaches have worked, but not on a consistent basis. Bird shooting, however, has consistently been the most successful method, with a success rate that approaches 90 percent. The process our shooter follows is critical to our success. He gathers information such as whether the facility managers have tried anything to remove the trapped birds, where the birds are located, what their activity patterns are and when they are most active. Then he makes an arrangement with management to visit when the facility is shut down.

Adapting to Facility Needs
By Scott McNeely, President, McNeely Pest Control, Winston Salem, N.C.

Over the years, I have used baited glueboards, mist nets, rat snap traps set lightly with bird seed and air rifles (our most effective method). Mist nets work best when conditions are exactly right. When mist nets fail, it is usually due to improper mesh size or having the nets set too tight. We have one manufacturing facility that was concerned with the potential of foreign-matter contamination to their products from the bullets we use in our air rifles. So in that facility, we use a BB gun and load it with steel instead of lead pellets. This idea works because they have the capability to remove magnetic foreign matter from the facility.

Solving a Chronic Sparrow Issue
By Steven Graff, Quality Assurance Manager, Abell Pest Control, Toronto

In some situations where we have a chronic issue with sparrows getting into structures, we use mist nets to capture them. The nets are installed on a permanent basis, generally from overhead roof supports, and target bird flyways. A laser pointer is a great tool for getting roosting sparrows to fly into the nets. For a quicker and less labor intensive option for the occasional bird that enters the building, we also have found good success with having our on-staff “snipers” shoot them.

Striking a Balance
By Pat Hottel, Technical Director,
McCloud Services, Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Once spotted inside a facility, we try to get the birds to leave the facility by opening doors and using lasers and lights. If we can’t get the birds out via those methods, the next steps are to shoot or trap. Trapping includes live traps, mist nests or other methods. Deciding whether to shoot or not can be influenced by product and employee safety concerns. The pest management company may determine that baits are the most effective solution for a situation, but your plant may decline this option because of past history of bird kills. In setting up a bird control program, you have to strike a balance between public relations, cost and efficacy. For the best results and least amount of damage and problems, trapped birds should be removed from the facility as soon as possible.

Pellet Guns Provide Immediate Results
By Michael J. Botha, President, Sandwich Isle Termite & Pest Control, Pearl City, Hawaii

We try to trap birds in baited cage traps. But most times, the customer wants an immediate result so we usually shoot them with a pellet gun. We have used baited glueboards in extreme cases, but no longer use them because they are presently not permitted in Hawaii.