While birds are generally harmless and playful creatures, they can become a nuisance if they make themselves too comfortable on your porch. Waking up to birds beautifully chirping their morning song is most people’s dream, but if they start spending a lot of time on your patio, one resultant factor will be bird poop blotches everywhere.
Similarly, sitting on your porch to have an evening snack may also become a struggle as birds may try to snatch their share from you. And if these birds happen to be crows, the constant croaky cawing is sure to give you a headache.
Due to all these reasons and more, you may be wondering how to keep birds off your porch or patio. Luckily, there are a number of effective tips that may not necessarily discourage birds from nesting in the trees around your house (so you can have the morning chirpy songs) but will definitely keep birds away from your porch or patio.
What You’ll Need
Here are a few items that will come in handy:
Bird spikes
Ornamental reflective spiral deterrent
Pinwheels
Windchimes
Fake owls
Here’s how to get started when you have everything in your hands.
How to Keep Birds Off Your Porch or Patio in 8 Steps
1. Remove Bird Feeders
The first step to keep birds away from your porch or patio will obviously involve making it less hospitable for these feathery creatures. Many homeowners overlook the aesthetic bird feeder hanging right over the deck or somewhere near the patio. Therefore, if you must keep a bird feeder within the premises of your house, place it as far away from the patio as possible. Your backyard could be a good location. If keeping the feeder away is still not discouraging birds, you will have to remove it altogether.
2. Remove Bird Baths or Standing Water Sources
Just like the bird feeder, you would also want to remove any intentional or unintentional birdbaths from your porch or patio. By unintentional, we mean any unexpected water sources such as bottle caps, jars, pots, or containers lying around your deck that may attract birds. This is especially true for warmer regions as birds love bathing in water when they feel hot. As was the case with bird feeders, if you still want to keep some water out for your feathery friends – do it away from your porch or patio.
3. Remove Colorful Materials that may Attract Birds
Birds are often attracted to colors – they can confuse colorful materials with food or simply peck on them out of curiosity. If you have any colorful outdoor decorations, rugs, or tapestries hanging around your porch – they may be the reason for birds frequenting the area.
What colors are most attractive depends on the species of the birds. For example, bluebirds and jays are attracted to blue color, while goldfinches and Warbles love the color yellow. See if there is some colorful thing that you can eliminate from your porch or patio.,
4. Consider Installing a Repellent Device
If the birds are a little stubborn, you may want to install a repellent device for keeping birds off your porch. These types of devices produce high-frequency sounds that are inaudible to you but super annoying for birds. As soon as such a device is switched on, birds sitting on your patio will fly away. However, be careful in using these devices as they may get to your pets too if they are roaming outside.
5. Hang Shiny/ Reflective Things
This is another great way to deter birds – just as much they like colorful objects, they are scared of shiny moving materials which reflect light in multiple directions. A handy item for this purpose can be spinning pinwheels that can serve both as an outdoor decoration and bird deterrent. Otherwise, you can also buy an Ornamental reflective spiral deterrent to keep birds away from your patio.
6. Use Wind Chimes
Reflective visual cues are not the only thing that scares birds away; tinkling, loud sounds are also disliked by these feathery fellows. This is why inserting wind chimes on your porch or patio is another smart way to deter birds if it is usually windy where you live. The sudden chiming sounds startle them and discourage them from nesting on your property. If you do not have a problem with the chiming sounds yourself, this can be the easiest way to scare birds away.
7. Use Bird Spikes
If you have no water and food sources around your porch and you have tried a couple of other techniques to deter birds but still find their poop staining your porch – this could be because some birds are nesting in your porch light fixture. The warmth in this area is a major driver of birds’ attraction. Luckily, you do not need to remove the fixture – just making it unreachable by lining it with bird spikes will be enough! Bird spikes are easily available and come in various sizes.
8. Buy Some Plastic Owls
Finally, you can use birds to keep birds away – and we mean fake ones! Usually, birds like crows are clever, and this trick may not be enough to fool them, but smaller birds are very scared of bords of prey, and strategically placing some plastic owls on your patio will be enough to keep them away.
Our Final Thoughts
While having birds around your property can be a sweet experience, it can turn into a nuisance if they find a home too close to yours, and you are left with bird shit stains all over your deck. A rapidly growing bird population can cause other problems, too, and so it is best to keep them away from your building. We hope that these effective tips on how to keep birds off your porch or patio help you enjoy a relaxing evening on a clean porch!
