With their admiration for colorful feathers and effortless flight, avid birdwatchers can tell you about how beautiful and fascinating wild birds can be. Unfortunately, many homeowners can't recount the same praise or pleasantries. While waking up to their friendly chirping may be a delightful way to greet the day, bird populations can become quite the pest issue when they choose to shack up inside your home. As they forage for sustenance, they destroy crops and gardens and contaminate food. They can also cause costly structural damage by obstructing essential areas and leaving an unsanitary mess.

To avoid extensive damage to your home and property, you should move quickly to address population problems. Ideally, nests are removed when inactive—after the nesting season has concluded. However, immediate removal may be necessary for cases where the nest's location poses a danger to human or bird inhabitants. Unsafe spaces include chimneys, gutters or drainage pipes, inside or around vents, in outdoor equipment (i.e., lawnmowers or grills), high-traffic doorways or walkways, and other active areas.

The most concerning factor is the potential health risk. Birds are capable of spreading over 60 diseases. Their droppings contain bacteria and parasites that cause a broad range of illnesses, including Salmonella, Encephalitis, E. coli, Avian flu, and much more. Moreover, they carry mites, fleas, and ticks, transferring them to pets and human hosts. As if that weren't bad enough, their droppings are caustic, unpleasant to look at and infuriatingly challenging to remove.

Eastern Starlings are the dominant winged terrors or "rat birds" of West Virginia. They travel in large, rambunctious flocks and aggressively attack and injure other birds as they compete for food sources and prime nesting real estate. When it comes to food and environment, Starlings aren't picky. Their flexible nature allows them to thrive anywhere and everywhere, from packed cities and suburbs to open farms and barren industrial wastelands. As cavity nesters, they won't hesitate to finesse their way through entrances at least 1.5 inches in diameter to settle inside your home's openings, such as vents, ducts, and pipes.

Birds can cause a myriad of headaches for homeowners. However, unlike other common pests, you can't merely kill or remove them whenever you want. Shooting and trapping birds is illegal, as federal and state laws, such as the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, protect most bird species and their nests from being tampered with. It's against the law to remove or destroy any active nest (having eggs or brooding adults) of native birds. Effective laws change from state to state, so calling in a professional to act can prevent you from running into legal trouble.

Black Knight's experts keep our customers well informed and privy to details regarding bird removal and preventative measures. Contact us today to eliminate both friendly and pesky flyers from your home. With our help, invasive birds can take to the skies where they can be free and appropriately enjoyed.