Four reasons why the bird in your building requires a fast response
As a store or facility manager, you have a lot on your plate. Managing inventory, schedules, and people compete with building maintenance for your attention. Then you look up and see that pesky sparrow flying about—the one that’s been flapping in the rafters for the past week. You shake your head and remember the next fire you have to put out—that bird will just have to wait.
At Meridian, we understand birds may not pose the immediate threat of, say, a leaking roof. We also know the perils of putting off bird problems until a later date—especially in the springtime. Here are four reasons why you should not wait to call us when a bird gets into your building.
Food safety concerns
If you store, make, or process food in your facility, it is imperative you remove birds immediately. As we’ve written in past articles, birds can carry more than 60 diseases and parasites—everything from salmonella, E. coli, and histoplasmosis to bird flu, West Nile virus, and many more. If your food products come into even momentary contact with birds, they could become contaminated. And that’s aside from their droppings.
But even if you don’t have food in your building, there are very good reasons to address your bird problems sooner rather than later.
The longer you wait, the harder birds are to catch
As we’ve mentioned in previous articles, birds often blunder into your building. While your warehouse or retail store offers shelter and even food, a bird’s natural habitat is outdoors in a tree. A bird’s first day in a man-made structure is fraught with confusion—the bird will be scared, clueless, and unfamiliar with the space. If we’re called in on a bird’s first day inside, we find they’re easy to catch.
After a while, the bird will adapt. It learns the structure and where it can hide. After days, weeks, or months, birds will also learn when your high traffic times are and will keep out of sight when people are around. This makes those birds very hard to catch. We’ve even seen house sparrows, which are diurnal, become nocturnal to avoid people. When that happens, we and the building manager have to come in after closing time, resulting in a longer and more costly service call.
Birds attract other birds
Many bird species are social and exhibit flock behavior. As a result, a single bird in your space tends to attract other birds. Bird droppings contain pheromones, which act like a beacon for other birds. You can clean up the droppings, but if you don’t expel the bird, the problem will just keep cropping up.
Birds multiply
Springtime is breeding and nesting time, which means it’s vital you address bird problems immediately. The reason is simple. Once a bird nests in your building, we may not be able to touch them. We have to determine first if it’s a protected species. Then the course of action depends on the bird.
If you have Carolina wren, for example, you can remove a nest if it’s inside. If the nest is outside—say, under an overhang, you can remove the nest if it’s still in progress. But if the nest is complete and harbors eggs, you (the building owner) must apply for a permit to remove it. The law doesn’t allow us to apply on your behalf, and sometimes approval takes 4 to 8 weeks. During that time, mama birds are raiding your food and seed stocks and tearing out your insulation to keep their babies fat and happy. By the time your approval comes through, the bird family will have abandoned the nest—after a summer of wreaking havoc in your building.
The best approach, then, is to “spring into action”. When you see a bird inside your facility, call Meridian Bird Removal right away. Spring is our busiest time, and it’s smart to get on our schedule as soon as possible. Our patented capture system is quick, efficient, and guaranteed. So don’t wait to call. Let us take care of your bird problem before it multiplies.