Eyes on the Five: Here are five areas around your building to watch and keep clean as bird activity picks up for fall.
Last month, we talked about how autumn is a busy time for birds. One of the best ways to prevent bird intrusions was to keep your building clean. We’re sure all of you understand cleanliness is key and do your best to keep your stores, warehouses, and other buildings immaculate—especially if food safety is a concern. However, as the fall and winter holidays increase activity around your business, attention to detail tends to slip. Here are five areas we recommend monitoring as we head into the holidays:
1. Outdoor employee break areas
Outdoor break areas are one of the most neglected spaces in most buildings. Since they are not public-facing and usually hidden from view, they don’t receive scrutiny—or cleaning. Crumbs and other food waste left behind can and do attract birds looking for easy scraps. Not only do we recommend training your employees to clean up their own mess, we suggest assigning someone (such as your bird removal point person) to periodically check the area and make sure the trash receptacles are emptied often.
2. Trash receptacles
Speaking of trash receptacles, as your holiday traffic increases, these bins will get full fast. That leads to overflow, and much of that overflow may be food waste from customers. Our suggestion? Move trash cans inside or far away from entryways. A trash receptacle next to your front door is a surefire way to get birds inside your store.
3. Entrances and doors
Even without a rubbish can right outside your front door, candy wrappers, snack bags, and fast food containers are a fact of life for holiday shoppers. Through negligence, carelessness, or old-fashioned littering, these items will end up on your doorstep. Be vigilant. Clean up trash, crumbs, and food bits often. Not only will you keep the birds away, you will create a cleaner and happier shopping experience for your customers.
4. Bulk garbage bins
Bulk garbage bins, including Dumpsters, attract scavenging birds. These are usually placed far enough away from entry points to prevent birds from jumping from bin to door. But this isn’t always the case. Some bulk garbage bins are located near loading docks. Some are within sight lines of your front door. And sometimes you won’t be able to control the location or cleanliness of the bulk bin. But you can keep an eye on it.
5. Garden centers
Garden centers are bird magnets. Seed, feed, and even cozy-looking birdhouses reside here—a veritable invitation for scavenging sparrows. Since they are open to the outdoors, there is a limited number of things one can do to keep birds out. However, you can put measures in place to keep birds from migrating to your store’s interior. The best recommendation is to be vigilant and call Meridian if a bird becomes entrenched or stuck in your garden center.
From Meridian’s many bird removals, these are five areas of special concern. There are other areas to watch, of course. By keeping an eye on these five—and others you identify as bird-attracting hot spots, you can keep birds out of your building before they become a problem.