BIRD CONTROL DEVICES

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Author Message Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 1160 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Monday, August 18, 2014 - 02:56 am:    Many moons ago prior to finishing college I took a trip to Boston and visited one of my architectural heroes, Paul Rudolph's Boston Government Center. While snooping around and taking in all the magnificent architecture, I was appalled by all the birds that were roosting in the nooks and crannies and all the bird droppings. Over the years I've occasionally specified bird control devices for high rise buildings. My question is do my peers automatically include these devices in their Project Manuals. When do you know when these devices are going to be required? I am preparing specs for a building that has a lot of architectural nooks and crannies, it is also the tallest building in an area very close to the Everglades in Sunrise, FL, that being the case I am concerned about birds roosting on the building. Any thought or suggestions? Chris Grimm, CSI, CCS, SCIP, LEED AP BD+C, MAI Senior Member Username: chris_grimm_ccs_scip Post Number: 271 Registered: 02-2014 Posted on Monday, August 18, 2014 - 08:48 am:    I don't know a particular rule of thumb, but in a location like that, even if it is a low building the birds will fowl it up without some bird control devices. spiper (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Monday, August 18, 2014 - 09:24 am:    I know of no particular rules either but I would recommend attempting to better understand the individual birds you will be dealing with. I have seen to many bird spikes on buildings that are great deterrent for some types of birds but act as an ideal base for nest building for some other birds. I suspect that in your project's area you will be dealing with a multitude of species so there may not be one best solution. In Chicago they introduced falcons to control the pigeon population. It is helping according to some but some others argue that the falcons have stopped being hunters and have simply resorted to eating the birds that die flying into windows. I guess the jury is still out on that experiment. I have also heard of situations where buildings eliminated some nighttime lighting and cut their bird problem several fold. Some bird species are like moths to a flame. The point is the best bird control solution could come in many different forms. Some of which can be specified and some which require a shift in societies approach.