How to Keep Birds Off Your Porch Lights: 11 Humane Ways

Birds can be an annoying pest to have. They are known for building nests on roof eaves in gutters, beneath porches–everywhere. Not to mention that they’ll proudly poop all over the exterior of your home, forcing you to do your spring cleaning every few months.

It’s common for birds to show up in gardens looking for food and nest-building materials, and there are many solutions to fix this problem. But what about your porch lights? How can you keep birds away from your porch lights–an area where birds are known to perch and gather like colleagues at the water cooler? Let’s discuss.

The 11 Ways to Keep Birds Off Your Porch Lights

1. Clean Things Up

Keeping your porch debris and dirt free is also a great way to deter birds. Sometimes birds are drawn to the light on the porch, and sometimes they are drawn to things on the porch that they may mistake for food or nest-building material such as leaves, twigs, and fallen feathers.

Also, you should look around for branches that may be growing near your home. Birds might leave droppings there. You will need to trim those branches if this is the case and remove any droppings to discourage birds from making these areas home.

2. Add Fake Predators to the Porch Decor

You can also add a few fake bird eaters to your porch to help keep pigeons and other common backyard birds away. Popular options include fake plastic or ceramic owls, small scarecrows, and snakes. If you go this route, however, be sure not to underestimate the intelligence of your porch pests.

Often birds will at some point realize that these items aren’t real if they’re not moved often. So be sure to move the fake predators to different areas around the porch and to use the different types–this will keep the birds on their feet.

3. Plant Anti-Bird Flowers Nearby

One of the best ways to get rid of birds and keep them from coming back is to plant flowers either on your porch or in front of it to deter them. This includes peppermint, marigolds, and white-petaled flowers (a color that birds fear). You can also plant a thick border of annual flowers around your porch, and couple it with visual deterrents and netting for more comprehensive deterrence.

4. Put Reflective Items on or Nearby the Porch

Reflective items such as the innovative reflective anti-bird spirals are another great way to keep birds away from your porch without hurting them. Many of these products have reflective surfaces that move with the wind to give the impression of a predator–a genius hack.

You can stick objects in the soil in front of your porch or hang them from the eaves of the porch itself. There are so many ways to plant these items, it just may take a bit of creativity.

5. Modify Your Lights a Bit

You may find that the birds aren’t the pickiest when it comes to choosing a light fixture to perch on or build a nest on top of. However, you can prevent them from using your porch light fixtures as nesting places by either replacing the entire fixture with one that isn’t ideal for them to stand on or purchasing lights that come with bird deflectors.

You can find these lines in your local home improvement store or on sites like Amazon or Walmart. Many of these lights come with metal or reflective plastic around the edges, which can help to deter birds by spooking them.

6. Plant Ultrasonic Devices Nearby

You may not realize this because you can’t see birds’ ears, but they have pretty excellent hearing. Birds can hear lower and shorter sounds way better than humans, which is advantageous to them as they can easily hear calls and songs from other birds– something that’s beneficial to them with day-to-day survival. So if you want to annoy the birds that hang out on your porch, try ultrasonic devices.

These devices emit high-frequency sound waves which are audible to humans but can be especially annoying to birds. These devices can be purchased at hardware stores and online for about $25 or so. The device should be placed as close as possible to the nesting area of the birds to ensure that they don’t move away.

7. Install a Bird Feeder Near the Porch

A feeder nearby is also a great idea. Though it may seem counterproductive, you can also install a feeder near or in front of your porch to help keep them off of your porch lights. This gives the birds an optional place to hang out, instead of on your flight.

And they will be incentivized to hang out on the feeder, given that it has food and or water available. For food, you can use dried fruit, nuts, bird feed, and suet. Be sure to place the feeder a considerable distance away from the porch, as you don’t want to walk in and out of your house with flocking birds hovering over you.

8. Add Wind Chimes

As mentioned earlier, noises can also help keep birds away. And wind chimes are a great way to keep birds from your lights and porch overall. You can hang them from the porch ceiling or place them in an area where birds have been nesting nearby. If you don’t mind the noise yourself, wind chimes can be a great option.

9. Install a Wire Mesh Around the Lights

This may not seem practical, but it’s a very simple and easy solution–simply add some mesh around the lights. Mesh wire is very inexpensive, and you can find wire mesh in many sizes at most hardware stores.

You should choose a mesh that is not too small to prevent birds from simply perching on top of the mesh, and you don’t want it too large for them to fall through.

You want it to have holes that are about an eighth of an inch thick, this will deter the birds as their feet will get caught up in the wire when they try to land on it. And you can also spray the mesh or coat it with deterrents such as Bird-X or Bird Out.

10. Install Bird Spikes on the Lights

With a bit of adhesive, you can also install your own bird spikes on top of the porch lights. These spikes usually come attached to a flat base, however, you can cut them or buy single spikes and glue them to the edges of the lights.

These bikes don’t harm the birds any more than giving them a slight poke when they try to land on them. And the great thing is that the spikes are fairly inexpensive, and you can purchase them for under $10 for a set.

11. Make Your Porch Less Appealing

Ultimately, your goal should be to make your porch as unattractive to birds as humanly possible. And there are several ways that you can accomplish this. After clearing the porch of any potential nesting material and debris, be sure to place a few plants around the porch.

And even near the lights to help deter birds. Then, add some deflectors near the lights as well and attach a few spikes to the top of them. You can top things off by adding a feeder to your front yard. A multi-pronged approach is often the best way to keep uninvited birds to a minimum.

Wrapping Things Up

There are various ways that you can keep birds away from your porch lights. The first thing that you should do is make sure your porch is completely free of any potential food or nest-building materials that may be attracting the birds.

Next, you can install items such as deflectors, fake predators such as owls or snakes, deterrent gels, and spikes to keep the birds from perching on top of the lights. Sometimes using various methods is the best approach, as some backyard birds are more aggressive than others.

Featured Image Credit: Naturelady, Pixabay