Stop Birds From Building Nests On Your Porch With These Repurposed Household Items

Even bird lovers can be annoyed when their feathered friends build nests on their porch. Birds can rightfully get protective of their young and attack any threats, including human porch dwellers. They're also not very good at cleaning up after themselves, leaving porch furniture soiled with disease-attracting bird droppings and other messes. Birds can even damage light fixtures, encourage molds to grow, or cause wood to rot. So these flying critters choosing to nest in the rafters of your home is a big problem, but it's not hard to keep your porch free from becoming a bird residence. You can foil birds with, well, aluminum foil, old CDs, or other reflective materials that confuse birds and send them looking elsewhere.

Keep in mind that disturbing nesting birds is illegal in many localities, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service warns that many birds species and their nests are protected by federal law. So if a nest appears on your porch, you're likely going to have to leave it there until after the nesting season and the nest is abandoned. It's therefore important to get ahead of the problem and protect your porch before birds decide it's their next home.

Hanging old CDs around your porch in an open area that receives sunshine can confuse birds as the CDs reflect light at different angles and colors while spinning around in the wind. Especially effective is a mobile of CDs: Birds can tune out regular patterns of noises, but CDs clicking against each other creates an irregular sound pattern that may deter them.

Aluminum foil can serve the same purposes, but it may not be as lasting of a solution. While the foil's reflective properties can confuse and deter birds, eventually they can get used to them if they are static. Foil is inexpensive, however, so it's worth giving it a try. Just hang strips of the foil in an open area where they can rotate and reflect the light.

There are many ways of getting rid of birds near your home, but if you love birds and just don't want them nesting on your porch, give them better alternatives. Create a bird-friendly garden to attract birds, place a bird bath in a place where they'll feel safe to bathe and drink, and above all, install a birdhouse on your property to encourage the birds to raise their families elsewhere.