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Exterminator Guild

There are birds nesting in my vent or eaves

The short answer

Identify the species before doing anything. Most native birds are protected by federal law in both the United States and Canada, and disturbing an active nest can be an offence. The work is exclusion — screening and capping every opening once the nest is inactive — and it usually has to wait until the young have fledged.

Why the species is the first question

In the United States the Migratory Bird Treaty Act protects most native species, and Canada has an equivalent framework. A small number of introduced species — house sparrows, European starlings and feral pigeons — are treated differently in most jurisdictions. A company that does bird work will identify the species before quoting, and one that does not is either guessing or not paying attention to the law.

What comes after the birds

Nest material in a dryer vent or a bathroom exhaust is a fire and ventilation hazard, and it is why this is worth doing properly rather than just capping the hole. Nests also routinely host mites, which disperse into the building looking for a new host once the birds leave — a well-known sequel that arrives a week or two later and gets blamed on something else.

  1. Identify the species and establish whether the nest is active.
  2. Wait, if it is active and the species is protected.
  3. Remove the nest material once it is inactive, with appropriate protective equipment.
  4. Screen or cap every opening, not only the one in use, and fit vent covers designed to be cleanable.
  5. Treat for mites at the site if a nest was established.

Also asked

Can I just block the hole?
Not while the nest is active, and not before it is cleaned out. Blocking an active nest traps the young, and capping over old nest material leaves a fire risk in a dryer vent and a mite reservoir in a wall.

Companies whose reviewers name birds

550 pest control businesses in the United States and Canada have reviewers who write about birds. Every listing shows the full rating distribution rather than the average, the share that is one or two star, and whether the owner replies.

Birds →

Read next

General information about pest problems and about hiring, not advice about your specific property. Pest control licensing, wildlife protection and landlord and tenant law are all set state by state and province by province across the United States and Canada, so your own regulator is the current answer. How we read the data.