Pest Bird in your Facility?

4/9/2025 Edition: by Theo Davis, ACE 

So, you have a bird in your facility.  

The following are practical instructions on how to react when one of these winged squawking monsters enters your peaceful and productive environment. The first thing you should do is isolate the beast to one area, if possible, this can prevent the bird from accessing any other rooms.  Write down who saw the bird enter the structure and what door it entered from; this will be useful to the service provider you are contacting in step 2. 

Second contact your pest management or wildlife contractor to get on their emergency service schedule and relay the sighting and entry information you took down earlier. 

 Usually, when a bird has entered a structure, it will try to leave if you provide an avenue for escape.  Shut the lights off and open an overhead or personnel door closest to the bird and keep a guard posted to make sure no other creatures enter while the door is open.  Position your guard so they are not visible to the bird from the inside, you don’t want to scare them away from their escape.  An additional person can be used to “Chase” the bird towards the open door using bright flashlights, horns, laser pointers or other loud noises, bullhorns are always good fun.  Once the bird has exited, close the door and contact your provider to notify them that the emergency service is no longer needed, this will usually save you the cost of the emergency service.   If you have a stubborn bird and it will not leave despite you asking nicely, at least keep an eye on the bird’s location until your provider arrives, this will speed up the process.  Take note of the flight pattern and areas where the bird lands multiple times and relay this information to the heroine or hero answering your call for assistance.

You will want to schedule a bird survey with your provider to identify conducive conditions and bird habits on the property and discuss potential control measures.  These measures vary greatly in cost and involvement and are different for every situation so consult your professional prior to purchasing any off-the-shelf remedies.   This survey period can take several days, weeks or months of observation to provide viable solutions in some instances.

There are many bird species that could potentially enter a structure the majority of the time it is one of three bird species.  English House Sparrow, European Starling, and Feral Pigeons.  These three bird species are non-native to the United States, meaning they were introduced during our settling of the country.  These flying stress creators are not covered by the Migratory Bird Act and therefore can be dealt with in most areas without any permits or special permissions.  Some states and local municipalities do require permits, check with your local authorities or your pest management provider for further information prior to acting.  This article is targeted to the on-the-ground operator that would like to reduce the attractiveness of their particular facility prior to potential expensive bird exclusion and deterrent measures. 

The one thing you can do in any commercial facility, and it is totally free, is to simply close the doors when not in use.  This sounds simple in theory but can be very difficult to practice.  Overhead doors in busy docks are left open frequently due to traffic, contractors do not understand the severity of the potential issue, and sometimes folks just forget to close the door, queue every father in the world to simultaneously say “Close the door you were not born in a barn”.  Reinforcing the expectation with all your employees that closing the door is expected and necessary to protect your structure and employee’s health is a sure way to success.  Yes, that is correct, the employee is protecting their health and food safety by closing a door to prevent bird entry.  Birds can be vectors for several diseases and accumulation of bird droppings can create an environment for spores like Histoplasmosis, a fungal infection caused by inhaling these spores.  Not to mention some bird nests can harbor bird mites and other pests that can cause issues.    Histoplasmosis symptoms are flu-like and can lead to skin lesions and eye problems.  During shift changes, employee meetings and coaching discuss closing all doors after each use to prevent birds from simply flying in open doors to check out what is inside or escape temperature extremes.  

The second thing you can do around the perimeter of your facility is pick up any loose spillage or trash that has blown in on a regular basis, typically weekly frequency is best practice.  Paying particular attention to the ground around docks, break areas and building grounds.  Nesting material, food sources, and water sources can be found by birds in this accumulated debris.  One of the main areas in a production facility is the compactor.  Spillage and collection of debris around compactors contribute, at least in part, to almost every bird entry into a structure, if the spillage is removed whenever the container is changed this alone will reduce the attractiveness of the area.  All of the preceding tasks are typically of little cost in time if done on a regular basis and will decrease the attraction to pest bird species.  Some facilities even make it a team-building experience at shift change to walk the facility grounds once a week together and see who can pick up the most debris.  Rewards may make this even more productive.  There you go a few low-cost actions that can reduce the likelihood of birds entering your structure.  There are many more suggestions, but we will save those for your provider when you discuss the situation with them. 

Have a great day and stay safe out there.