What keeps vultures away? and How to Deter Vultures and Predatory Birds? Well, Vultures play an important role in the environment but an annoying role in your personal space. Vultures are large, noisy, scary, and highly destructive. If you have them around, it is pretty understandable who ruined your garden and backyard greens. They won’t harm humans unless we behave as a carcass, but the nuisance they make is hard to avoid.
While you are looking forward to getting rid of vultures, scaring them off your property is the only option. It is because the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 protects vultures. And since that, humans cannot kill these birds, nor can they destroy their Vulture’s eggs and nest. However, it is ideally legal to harass (humanely) and scare vultures to deter them from your property.
Today the internet is full of tricks, techniques, and commercial products that help deter vultures. Here are some of the best solutions to try and gain successful results. Have a look:
Why are vultures hanging around my house?
One of the unique and unusual things you will encounter is finding vultures around your house. In certain circumstances, they are just migrating from your area. However, other than that, the common reason is, ‘Vultures have sensed carrion around your place.’ Maybe there’s a dead bird or animal in your backyard. Or you may have left out chicken bones, pieces of meat, or something similar on your home exteriors.
Reasons why vultures are hanging around your house:
- For smelling the dead.
- While waiting for the dead to rot.
- They are looking for Scavengers.
- They may be nesting.
- For social gatherings amongst their group.
- During the migration period.
- Or simply out of curiosity.
Consider checking your property for certain possibilities. And if there lies some, get rid of it as soon as possible.
What does it mean when vultures are around your house?
Vultures are known as very powerful birds. They are highly capable of gathering their senses and achieving all that can be completed in this life. Though Vultures are taken as sinister throughout the world, individuals often link them with death. Even in several cultures, these big birds are guardians or messengers between life and death. In the upper Egyptian region, they are still seen as Gods.
Vultures circling around the house are also taken as a symbol of death. Maybe someone is going to get relief from the human body soon. However, according to Tibetan belief, vultures are angels who take the dead body to heaven and wait for their next incarnation. Also, vultures by feeding on dead bodies keep the world clean.
Whatever the beliefs are, Vultures are an important part of our environment. Different religions and regions may have their own beliefs about these birds; however, scientifically, nothing is true.
How do you keep vultures away from your house? 10 Humane Ways
Keeping Vultures away from your house isn’t tricky. Because their business is no more than finding and feeding on the dead, deterring them becomes simple.
How to get rid of turkey vultures effectively and humanely? Here are the ten most-effective methods that will help you keep vultures away from your house.
1) Keep your house clean of any roosting/nesting sites.
Though it is uncommon for vultures to nest in and around residential areas, it isn’t impossible. While the forests are cut down today, chances of vultures nesting in your property have increased a little. And the more they will roost/ nest around your house, the more often you will spot them. Thus, get around your house and check for roosting/ nesting sites of vultures. Upon finding any, consider removing them.
Besides the roof and eaves, check the tress in your garden and backyard. Because destroying a vulture’s nest is illegal, call professionals for help. Those guys will carefully remove the vulture nest and transfer it into the nearby park or wilderness.
2) Remove all the food sources from your house exteriors.
Clean your property from anything that smells like food. And if you live in the countryside, check your property for dead animals. Often when vultures are circling above your house, it is because they may have seen a dead animal. It can be anything from a dead bird to a dead rabbit, squirrel, chipmunk, chicken, etc. Upon keeping your property clean, you are making it unappealing for vultures.
3) Dispose of your garbage mindfully.
Vultures in the wild feed on dead animals, though due to urbanization, they today even feed on your ‘Trash.’ Especially if your trash has traces of non-vegetarian food, it might attract vultures. Thus, make sure your tie every garbage bag instead of leaving it open and inviting. Also, do secure your trash can with a tight lid. For added help, you can use some kind of garbage freshener so that the smell of meat scrap won’t travel out. Besides that, hose down your garbage frequently.
4) Avoid feeding your cat, dog, or rabbit out.
Along with feeding on the dead, Vultures also feed on leftovers from other animals’ meals. With that, the chances are that they might be eyeing your dog’s or cat’s food bowl. Especially if your pet relies upon non-vegetarian food; thus, consider feeding your pet inside every time. And even if you feed them outside, make sure you do that under your supervision. After that, take their food bowl inside and ensure no traces of food/ meat are left outside.
5) Cover or temporarily remove the aquarium or pond from your Home.
If your garden has a fish pond or aquarium, chances are vultures are here because of that. Vultures commonly lookout for dead animals but they can even prey on live ones. And because fishes are one of the easiest prey, vultures will find and eat them.
Thus, consider covering your pond to save your little fishes and deter these giant birds. And if that doesn’t help, then go for removing it temporarily.
6) Cover your property with a bird net
Bird netting in your garden and other home exterior helps in keeping all kinds of birds away. It is made up of a durable and long-lasting plastic known as polyethylene. Netting behaves like a physical barrier and thus keeps birds, including vultures, from entering your property.
Installing Bird netting may take some time and effort, but it is one highly durable solution. And besides that, it is highly effective as well as humane. Neither will it harm vultures, nor will it put any physical pressure on your property.
7) Use a motion detector laser deterrent.
Artificial light is disorienting and intolerable to birds, including vultures as well. Now while regular light does the job, lasers do it even better. Hence if you want to keep vultures out of your property, then invest in some good laser bird deterrents.
These devices have different colors and light movement patterns which scare vultures. Besides that, their automatic turn-on and off features confuse the birds. And because laser lights can travel distance, it is ideal for installing in the garden and backyard.
8) Use motion-activated sprinkler
The motion-activated sprinkler is a water jet spray that activates upon sensing something within its range. The device can sense movement from 20 to 40 feet and sprinkle water in a large area. Why does it work effectively for deterring birds?
While birds, including vultures, fly within the sensing range of the motion-activated sprinkler, the device will activate. It will further start sprinkling water that birds do not like. Getting wet and that too randomly is one of the last things birds would prefer experiencing.
You can install a motion-activated sprinkler to a hose with line pressure in your garden. Besides deterring birds, it will also irrigate the soil.
9) Install owl/ hawk decoy outside your house
Vultures, though, are scary and huge, but like any other bird, someone, they too are afraid of ‘Owls’. Since petting an owl isn’t a great idea, we can scare vultures away using an owl decoy.
An Owl/ hawk decoy is a statue made to look like a predatory bird, and it works like a scarecrow. For making them more realistic, companies today produce owl decoys with glittering eyes, moving heads, and even ultrasonic sounds. All these advancements make the decoy appear real to other birds.
All you need to do is, install one or more owl decoys on your home outdoors. Cover your roof, backyard, garden, balcony, trees, and all possible areas. Make sure you keep moving the decoy every other or alternative day to make them appear real.
10) Or, consider scaring them with reflection.
Birds are put off with reflective and shiny objects, and vultures are no different. When sunlight falls on a mirror or other reflective object, it disorients and confuses the bird’s sight.
You can go with using your old CDs old mirror or invest in a reflective bird deterrent. Find them either at your local home improvement store, gardening store, or online.
How do I get rid of vultures in my trees?
Trees provide food, shade, and shelter for many animals. And especially when it is about birds, trees are their home.
However, sometimes these natural facts become a headache for humans, especially when birds like vultures decide to nest in the garden or backyard trees.
If you are tired of birds, especially vultures nesting in the trees on your property, here are a few tips you can follow:
- Begin with getting all the bird nests removed from your trees. You can call a professional for the same since removing and destroying a bird’s nest is illegal.
- Hang reflective tape all around your garden. You can hang long strips of them loosely from the trees.
- Make sure you trim down your trees regularly.
- And if nothing of these tips work, consider covering your garden and backyard with bird netting. These woven meshes are in-expensive and provide long-term protection from bird invasion. Installing them isn’t difficult though it might take a little while and some human help.
How do you keep vultures out of your yard?
How to get rid of vultures in your yard? If vultures are common in your area, it becomes more common to have them in your yard. And since the heavy and strong vultures can destroy most of the bird deterrent, humans have to behave mindfully.
- Line the entire area with a fishing line to deter birds from your yard. It will discourage vultures from landing in your yard without harming the aesthetics.
- Or, Install an ultra-sonic bird deterrent in your backyard. These devices emit pre-recorded sounds that usually scare birds away. And since these sounds aren’t audible to human ears, you can stay at ease.
List of sounds that scare vultures
Vultures, though, are very stubborn, but a certain sound can deter them away. For instance,
- Clapping hands.
- Heating/ Rubbing/ Banging pots together.
- Loud banging music.
- Owl/ Hawk sound.
You can even find several vulture-deterring sounds from YouTube. All you need to do is, connect YouTube to a speaker and play the sounds. Vultures will leave the place soon enough.
How do I keep vultures off my roof?
Vultures circling over your house or roosting on your roof is a sight that makes humans highly uncomfortable. And because these birds are really strong, they can even damage your roofing. Though vultures don’t often attack, having them on your roof is dangerous since you can’t let your kids and pets roam out freely. Thus, you spot them for the very first day, preparing to deter them away.
Here is how you can do that.
- Line your roof your bird-repelling spikes. This will make your roof unavailable for vultures to perch, rest, let alone nest.
- Cover your roof with bird netting.
- Sprinkle Baking soda on your roof. Birds don’t like the feeling of baking soda under their feet.
- Install a reflective or shiny bird deterrent on your roof.
- Place fake owls on your roof. Keep changing its position.
- If visiting your roof is accessible, then do this more often. Human presence makes any place unappealing for birds.
What are vultures scared of? What are vultures attracted to?
Vultures are scared of owls, hawks, wild cats, and other wild animals. At the same time, things like dead animals, fresh/ rotten meat, insects, pesticides, and trash appear attractive to them.
Wrapping up…
We hope that you have all the information regarding repelling vultures by the end of this article.
Of all the birds who are a part of our environment, vultures are possibly one of the last that humans would prefer seeing around their house. While some deter them due to their destructive nature, others do so due to the superstitious beliefs associated with vultures.
During the entire process of deterring Vultures, one has to behave very patiently. Because they are very stubborn, the process might give you some hard times. Though since it isn’t impossible, we encourage you to bring the above solution to life.
However, if nothing works for you, at last, consider calling a professional. Find out and contact a duly registered wildlife control service of your area. They will send professionals with the right equipment for the job. These professionals will remove and relocate the Vulture’s nest to a safer place.
Considering birds are an important part of our biological and environmental space, we strongly discourage killing them.
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