How can I prevent this bird from migrating to, and damaging my house?

January 7, 2008 3:38 PM

How can I prevent a bird from damaging my house? This exact bird (or family of birds) arrives every winter and uses the area under the roof above my window to next. I'm amazed by the stunning accuracy of the on-board navigation system on this crow-like bird, but it keeps ripping grates off my house and tossing insulation out.
posted by k7lim to Pets & Animals (6 answers total)

I solved a similar problem (house sparrows) by sealing up the area while they weren't living there and installing the appropriate-sized bird house in the same location. They moved into the bird house without incident.
posted by xo at 3:52 PM on January 7, 2008

Moth balls will likely work.
You'll have to put them in a net or wire bag so the bird doesn't remove them.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 3:58 PM on January 7, 2008

I did what xo did (ours were bluebirds, so cute) and while one family happily moved into the birdhouse, another moved into a hole that a woodpecker graciously made for them in our siding. This year, we have plugged both holes and also put one of those mylar owls on the side of the house. Luckily it's not the part that faces the street.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 4:18 PM on January 7, 2008

more info on location and/or picture of said bird might help us answer your question
posted by ArgentCorvid at 5:27 PM on January 7, 2008

You can buy plastic mesh called Deer-X, also known as anti-bird netting, at garden stores and Lowes. A persistent redbird was driving our indoor cat crazy by pecking on the window at the same spot, many times a day, for several summers. I saw it as exercise for the cat, but one day I'd had it (and the cat's claws were ruining the trim). I hung a small piece of this netting over the bird's chosen spot and that was it. The bird was foiled. I was afraid the bird might catch itself in the netting, but it didn't. No harm done to bird or window, but the cat gained weight.

The same bird pecked our truck's mirrors, which I used to cover with towels, but the sound of tapping would alert me to the fact that the covers had blown off. Deer-X worked here too.
posted by sevenstars at 6:26 PM on January 7, 2008

collect some cat urine from a litter box and put it up there, say in a little mesh bag. it works for rats, maybe it will work for rat birds.
posted by caddis at 7:34 PM on January 7, 2008