New porch is for the birds
- Laura Moore: Housebroken
- November 9, 2021
- 622
A neighbor has warned us that open porches, those not screened, attract birds. I love birds and have a bird feeder or two in our yard, but porches do not love birds. The reason? Birds love to sleep and nest on porches, but they also tend to relieve themselves on those same porches. Because birds are not house trained, that comes as no surprise, but it is a nasty problem to deal with. It’s amazing how much “business” birds are capable of producing in just one night.
Spring is when birds look for good nesting places. The underside of a porch roof is an ideal nesting area. It offers a safe, dry place to bring up a family. Unfortunately, birds are quite capable of turning the lower porch levels into a rather odoriferous latrine, and they do. We had no idea our new porch could become such a place. Preventing that invasion has become our main concern. How does one bird-proof an open porch?
Birds are persistent creatures, and there are a lot of them in our neighborhood. The little birds such as sparrows are the worst invaders. They are the perfect size to fit into the numerous nooks and crannies under our poor porch roof.
Being nature lovers, we don’t want to harm the birds, just keep them in the trees where they belong. Granted, if I was a bird, I’d prefer a nice porch roof to nest under rather than an open-to-the-sky tree branch.
Years ago we had friends who removed their porch and replaced it with a deck. They moved the old porch roof to the rear of their yard and turned it into a bird sanctuary. Brilliant idea — and it worked. The earth under the old roof became enriched by the birds’ “business,” and a lovely garden developed there. Our friends were happy, the birds were happy and the new deck had a clean floor.
We need to find an old porch roof to set up as a bird sanctuary in our back yard. We’re not holding our breath.