The waste and potential disease transmission posed by invasive birds, particularly house sparrows, European starlings, and pigeons, has an influence on a variety of structures. The strategy for reducing these birds is, fortunately, well-known. There will be fewer house sparrows to contend with if you reduce the amount of grain available to them, whether by completely cleaning up spills or sealing grain bin entrances. Even if we keep a close eye on spills, these troublesome birds are likely to use our structures for nesting and roosting. This means that exclusion is crucial.
Habitat and distribution: Originally, the house sparrow lived throughout Europe, Asia, and northern Africa. This aggressive songbird now occupies every continent except Antarctica, thanks to human introductions all over the world. These violent birds thrive in human-modified environments like farms, villages, and cities.
Diet: Throughout the year, house sparrows eat seeds and augment their diet with insects and grubs during the warmer months. Corn is a favorite food of house sparrows. They love to forage in close proximity to structures or dense bushes. Fly larvae from dung are a summertime mainstay for adults and young birds at cattle farms. The house sparrow’s diet consists of weed seeds, small grains, leftover food from restaurants, and huge flying insects.
Nesting: The House Sparrow often nests in holes of solid structures such as houses, barns, grain elevators, bird boxes, and bridges from mid-spring to late summer. It will, however, make a nest in tangled vines on buildings and, on rare occasions, in the fork of a dense tree or bush. House sparrows will do their best to cover the enclosed space with a haphazard buildup of dried plant fibers, which they typically beautify with odd bits of feathers, string, paper, plastic bags, and other rubbish, whatever the location.
Group behavior: House Sparrows cluster in groups to forage on the ground and sleep on buildings, vines, or dense vegetation outside of the breeding season. At places with plenty of food and deep cover, these flocks can range in size from a few birds to dozens.
Habitat and distribution: The European starling, like the House Sparrow, was once found only in Eurasia and northern Africa, but thanks to human releases, it now lives on six continents.
Diet: The diet of the starling varies by place and season, but it normally consists of a combination of invertebrates, seeds, and fruits. Insects taken from the open ground of lawns, feedlots, pastures, and fields—or caught in the air—are abundant in the Midwest. Starlings are similarly drawn to supplies that are plentiful and concentrated. As a result, starling flocks sometimes devastate spilt grain, animal feed, and seed at bid feeders. Similarly, starlings can eat fruit from orchards and ornamental trees in a hurry.
Nesting: The European starling builds its nest in natural tree cavities, displacing useful local birds. It, on the other hand, readily inhabits the nooks and crannies of man-made structures such as houses, barns, office buildings, and traffic lights. From April to August, starling partners surround a more finely woven cup of thin grass and feathers in their nesting hole with a chaotic mass of plant fibers.
Group behavior: During the nesting season, starlings are mainly seen in pairs, family groups, and small flocks, but in the fall and winter, a single flock of starlings can number in the thousands. During the colder months, buildings and adjacent trees in metropolitan areas, big farmsteads, and windbreaks provide warm, safe roosting spots for starlings. During a given winter, flocks are loyal to specific roosting places and frequently return there in subsequent years. These places are frequently rather far away from the preferred feeding areas. These nuisance flocks cause significant problems with their noise and droppings around roosts and feeding places.
Habitat and distribution: The Rock Pigeon, which has been adapted to nesting around humans since the dawn of civilization, first rapidly expanded its range over Europe, Asia, and northern Africa thanks to the structures built under the Roman Empire. After arriving in the New World over a thousand years ago, the Rock Pigeon accompanied the progress of European colonization westward over North America.
Diet: Rock pigeons in rural regions consume largely seeds, with a minor bit of fruit and insects thrown in for good measure. Corn, which has been shown to account for over 90% of pigeons’ diet in scientific examinations of wild birds, is unsurprisingly particularly appealing to them. Pigeons flock to abundant maize sources at animal facilities and grain elevators, as well as spills along farm fields. They eat a wide variety of starchy and grain-based foods in cities, such as popcorn, peanut butter, and bread.
Nesting: Rock pigeons construct their nests on a flat, sold building that is protected from the elements. Barns, silos, poultry coops, bridges, billboards, and urban high-rises all have alcoves where such sites might be found. Pigeons choose sites that match the traits of cliff-nesting birds in this way. A pigeon pair creates a crowded mound of plant stems, twigs, roots, and straw inside the nest space. Nails and other metal objects are sometimes found in the nest’s base.
Group behavior: When roosting, feeding, and flying, rock pigeons wander around singly or in groups that might number in the hundreds. The larger the flocks expand, as well as the health risks they bring, the more extensive the habitat becomes. Pigeons, on the other hand, cluster in higher numbers near ample food supplies.
Many preventative measures and eviction techniques work for all three birds. However, each species’ differing size and habits may necessitate specific efforts. That’s why we at ProPest take great pride creating a specific plan for your needs.
