What to expect from a professional bird exclusion project

What happens on the first call?

Expect questions more than answers. Where on the building are the birds, and how high? What do they look like, and are they carrying nesting material or food? When did it start, and is it every year? Is anything getting inside? A few phone photos help more than a description: one of the bird if you can get it, one of the nest or the droppings, and one wide shot of the whole side of the building.

What you should not expect is a firm price. An honest company will give you a sense of whether the job is small or large and whether the season allows it now, then arrange a visit. Our guide to the cost factors in bird control explains why.

What does the site survey cover?

The whole building, not only the spot you called about. Birds that are closed out of one opening look for the next one, so the survey follows the roofline, soffits, gable and wall vents, ledges, signs, beams and any open bays, and notes each place a bird could land, roost or get in. On a barn or arena it includes the rafters and the way doors and equipment are used day to day.

The surveyor is reading evidence as well as looking for birds: droppings and where they are concentrated, nest material, feathers, staining below a gap. They will also look at what there is to fasten to, how the area can be reached, and what is underneath it. Expect measurements and photos. It helps to be there, since you know where you have seen birds at dawn and dusk and the surveyor may not see that in a midday visit.

Why does species identification come before any plan?

Because it decides both the materials and the calendar. Different birds need different mesh sizes and strengths, and different species use a building in different ways. More importantly, the law differs. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says almost all native birds, with their nests and eggs, are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and names European starlings, feral rock pigeons and house sparrows as nonnative species that are not protected by it. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks likewise describes pigeons as not protected in Montana and starlings as not protected by federal or state law.

So a pigeon job and a swallow job on the same wall follow different schedules. Our guide to Montana bird nest removal law covers that in full. If the birds cannot be identified on the visit, a careful contractor will say so and plan as though they are protected.

What should the proposal include?

Enough detail that you could hand it to another company and get a comparable price. That means each area listed separately, with the method for each: netting here, mesh on these vents, an angled cover or spikes on that ledge. It should name the materials, say what cleanup is included, say when the work can happen, and say what happens if a nest is found. It should also state what is not included, such as repair of damaged siding or roofing, which belongs to a siding contractor or roofer.

A proposal that lists areas separately lets you phase the work. It also makes gaps visible. If two proposals differ widely, the usual reason is that one covers an elevation the other left out. Our bird netting and exclusion page explains which method suits which surface, so that part is not repeated here.

How is the work scheduled around nesting?

For protected species, the installation is set for a time when nothing is nesting behind it. The Fish and Wildlife Service says it is illegal to destroy a nest with eggs or chicks in it, that permits to take active nests are issued only under very limited circumstances, and that the usual requirement is to wait until the nest is inactive. In practice that puts most installs in fall or in late winter before birds return.

That does not mean nothing happens in summer. The survey, the proposal, ordering materials and any cleanup away from the nest can all be done, and areas with no nesting can be closed. Part of a building may be finished later than the rest. Our Montana nesting season calendar gives the general timing by species.

Why does cleanup come first?

Because closing a space over old nests and droppings leaves the contamination, the odor and the insects in place, and because installers should not be working in it. Old nest material also signals a good site to the next bird. Cleanup is done with wet methods so that dust is not raised, with protective equipment, and with the waste bagged and removed. NIOSH's guidance for workplaces calls for controlling dust and disposing of waste properly, and the CDC advises that large amounts of droppings be handled by professional companies that specialize in hazardous waste removal.

You may be asked to keep people, pets and vehicles away from the area while this is done. See bird dropping cleanup for how we approach it.

What happens on installation day?

The crew sets up access first, whether ladders or a lift, and protects what is below. Then the work goes in a fixed order: anchors and perimeter cable, then netting tensioned and closed along every edge, then mesh fitted and fastened over individual openings, then ledge work. On a commercial frontage the entry is usually kept open in sections. A small residential job can take part of a day. A large bay or a full storefront can take several.

Before each space is closed, it is checked for birds, and it is checked again at the end. This is the step that separates careful work from the rest. The USDA Wildlife Services guide to bird dispersal warns that poorly installed nets can trap birds and that improperly installed nets can create new places to nest or loaf. Ask your contractor how they confirm nothing is closed in. The answer should be specific.

What maintenance is needed afterward?

Not much, but not none. The USDA guide says spikes must be maintained to stay effective, because debris falling from above can cover them and some birds learn to drop nesting material onto them to build on. Shock track works only while it has power and stays clean. Netting should be looked at once a year, and after heavy snow or a windstorm, for sagging, a pulled anchor or a torn edge. Buildings also change: a new sign, a replaced vent or a section of new siding can open a gap that did not exist when the work was done.

Keep the proposal, the photos and the date of the work. If birds return in three years, those records show whether something failed or whether the birds found a new way in.

How do you judge whether it worked?

Give it a full season, and look at the right things. Success means no birds landing or roosting in the treated areas, no fresh droppings below them, and no new nest starts when the breeding season comes around. Birds will often return in the first days and test the edges. That is normal, and it should stop. Birds getting behind a net is not normal, and should be reported at once.

Also watch the untreated parts of the building, since displaced birds may try the next ledge along. If they do, that is an addition to the plan, not a failure of the first phase. Ask for a follow-up check to be part of any bird mitigation job for this reason, and the Montana Bird Control Guide collects the species and building guides that go with it.

Call HJ Property Care & Tree Service at (406) 215-7319 or request a bird assessment and we will identify the species, the access points, and what will actually stop them.

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