About Avian Pests

Birds are well adapted to survive in a modern city and our metropolitan areas have become artificial breeding grounds for the once rural birds. Buildings, similar to their cliff and tree homes, offer them a home where they are safe from predators. With this man is now also providing an unnatural and unlimited supply of food for these pests in the form of grain farms on the city borders.

Pest birds understandably gravitate towards warm, dry places where they can set up home, as many city dweller will have experienced with the House Sparrows, Indian Mynas, European Starlings and Rock Pigeons setting up their home in the and around the buildings.

ROCK PIGEON

A pair of pigeons can produce 10 squabs a year. Each squab can double its birth weight in one day. At approximately 2 months of age the young are ready to fledge and the parents start to breed again. All pigeons are homing pigeons meaning they will never willingly leave their home. They are also non-migratory and thus they are born, live and die in the same place.

Each pigeon produces an average of 11 kilograms of droppings annually. The faeces of these birds represent a health and safety issue to employees who have to remove or work in close proximity with this and to members of the public. The risk of contagion is higher when pigeon faeces and detritus build up inside a building. Pigeons are carriers of a number of serious human diseases.

Unfortunately many pigeons choose to roost on the external units of the air-conditioners, increasing the possibility of contamination. The accumulation of pigeon faeces is expensive and removal is a time consuming practice as protective clothing and specialized working procedures need to be addressed.

Walkways and ledges of buildings can be made hazardous to use due to the build-up of faeces making for slippery and unsafe footing, hindering maintenance routines.

Feral pigeons can be public health pests. They can accumulate wherever there is food and shelter, and can take up residence almost anywhere, including around houses, tall city buildings or schools. As well as being a nuisance and causing extensive damage to property, feral pigeons can also pose a risk to human health. Feral pigeons are common in the urban environment and although they are generally considered to be no more than a nuisance, they can potentially pose a risk to human health. Pigeons and their droppings can also cause damage to the buildings they reside, perch or nest in or on.

Potential health risks and examples of damage include:

  • Transmission of diseases such as histoplasmosis, cryptococcosis, and psittacosis (ornithosis)
  • Attraction of ticks, mites, cockroaches and rats
  • Unpleasant odour and noise issues
  • Damage to buildings and monuments due to the highly corrosive nature of pigeon droppings
  • Extensive damage to air-conditioning units and other roof top machinery

HOUSE SPARROW

The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) is found in most parts of the world. The House Sparrow is native to most of Europe, and much of Asia. Its intentional or accidental introduction Africa, and the Americas, make it the most widely distributed wild bird. The House Sparrow is strongly associated with human habitations. The House Sparrow has become highly successful in most parts of the world where it has been introduced.

This is mostly due to its early adaptation to living with humans, and its adaptability to a wide range of condition. The House Sparrow is host to a huge number of parasites and diseases, and the effect of most is unknown. The commonly recorded bacterial pathogens of the House Sparrow are often those common in humans, and include Salmonella and Escherichia coli.

The House Sparrow hosts avian pox and avian malaria, Many of the diseases hosted by the House Sparrow are also present in humans and domestic animals, for which the House Sparrow acts as a reservoir host, Arboviruses such as the West Nile virus, which most commonly infect insects and mammals, survive winters in temperate areas by going dormant in birds such as the House Sparrow usually, it is regarded as a pest, since it consumes agricultural products and spreads disease to humans and their domestic animals. In most of the world the House Sparrow is not protected by law.

INDIAN MYNA

Myna droppings, especially when dry, harbour over 40 known diseases including Salmonellosis, Cryptococcosis, Histoplasmosis and Ornithosis, the latter two causing blindness and death. Accumulating and decaying bird droppings create offensive odours and will attract flies and other disease carrying insects, especially during summer.

Lice are inherent with Indian Mynas and when the birds roost overhead they pose a risk of infecting anyone walking or working below. Droppings are also highly corrosive to metal and concrete. Losses in terms of damage and subsequent depreciation of equipment and stocks, as well as the cost of constant cleaning can become very expensive.