Bird Control
Sydney
Bird Control Is Exclusion Work, Not Extermination
Start with the law, because it shapes the whole job. Native birds are protected in New South Wales under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016. Harming, taking or interfering with them is an offence without authorisation from NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. Magpies, currawongs, noisy miners, lorikeets, cockatoos, ibis and ducks are all native. We do not harm, trap or relocate any of them, and we will say so rather than take a booking we should not.
Feral pigeons, common mynas, common starlings and house sparrows are introduced species and are not protected native fauna. Even so, the work we do on them is almost entirely physical. Killing the birds currently on a building does nothing about the building: the ledge, the parapet, the gap under the solar panels and the broken ridge capping are all still there, and a new group moves in within weeks.
So bird control here means proofing. Close the roost, close the nest site, close the entry to the roof void, and the problem ends because the property stops being useful. That is slower to quote and more expensive than a spray, and it is the only thing that holds. Bird work starts from $89 for an initial attendance and assessment, with the proofing itself priced on what the building actually needs.
The Birds We Get Called About
Feral pigeon
The bulk of commercial bird work in Sydney. Pigeons roost on parapets, window ledges, signage, awnings, air-conditioning plinths and under solar panels, and they return to the same ledge for years. The droppings are the real complaint — they build up fast, stain rendered and painted surfaces and block box gutters and downpipes.
Common myna
Introduced and highly territorial, and the one that gets into roof voids through a lifted tile or a gap at the barge board. Mynas carry large volumes of nesting material inside, which is a fire risk near downlights and a magnet for mites and beetles. They also displace native hollow-nesting birds, which is why councils across Sydney treat them as a problem species.
Common starling and house sparrow
Both introduced, both cavity nesters, and both drawn to the same weak points — broken tiles, unscreened vents, gaps behind fascia and the void above a shopfront awning. Sparrows are the classic problem inside food warehouses and garden centres, where the roof structure gives them shelter and the stock gives them food.
Native birds we will not treat
Swooping magpies, noisy miners fouling a driveway, ibis in a bin area, lorikeets in a palm and cockatoos chewing cedar window frames are all protected native species. What we can do is advise on exclusion, netting, and removing the food or nesting attraction. What we will not do is harm or relocate them.
Where Birds Get In and Why They Stay
Solar panels are now the single most common pigeon complaint on Sydney houses. The gap between the panel and the tiles is dry, shaded, warm and completely protected from above, which makes it close to ideal. Birds move in, nesting material builds up under the array, droppings run down the tiles and into the gutter, and the array itself loses output as the mess spreads.
On commercial buildings the pressure points are parapets and box gutters, the tops of signage and light boxes, the flat run behind an awning, plant decks and the steel rafters inside warehouses and loading docks. On houses it is lifted ridge capping, a slipped tile, an unscreened roof vent, the gap behind a fascia board and the space above a boxed-in eave.
What keeps birds there is usually food within a short flight: an unsecured bin store, an outdoor dining area, a loading dock with spillage, a bird feeder next door, or a chook pen. Proofing a building while leaving an open bin room across the car park generally just moves the roost twenty metres.
What Proofing Actually Involves
Bird netting
The heavy-duty option for a large open area — a loading dock, an atrium, an internal warehouse roof, a courtyard, a plant deck. Correctly tensioned netting on a perimeter cable closes the space completely and is close to invisible from the ground. Badly tensioned netting sags, traps birds and looks worse than the problem, so the fixing detail is the whole job.
Spikes and post-and-wire
For narrow linear roosts — ledges, parapet capping, sills, signage tops and beams. Spikes stop a bird landing and settling. Post-and-wire is a lower-profile alternative on heritage and street-facing facades where a spike line would be visually intrusive. Neither harms the bird; both simply make the ledge unusable.
Solar panel mesh
A clipped mesh skirt around the perimeter of the array, closing the gap between panel and roof without drilling the panels or voiding the array warranty. Existing nesting material and droppings need clearing before the mesh goes on, otherwise you seal the problem in rather than out.
Roof and cavity proofing
Screening vents and weep holes, closing gaps at the soffit and barge board, replacing broken tiles and re-bedding lifted ridge capping. Where a bird is already nesting inside, the work waits until the young have fledged and the void is empty, then the entry is closed permanently.
Droppings, Nesting Material and the Clean-Up
Accumulated droppings are not just cosmetic. They are acidic and they mark render, paint, sandstone and metal cladding. In a box gutter or a downpipe, dropping and nesting build-up is a genuine water ingress risk, and the ceiling damage from a blocked box gutter usually costs far more than the proofing would have.
Dried droppings should never be swept, scraped or hosed at pressure while dry, because that is exactly what puts the dust into the air. Clean-up is done wet, with the material bagged, and with respiratory protection appropriate to the volume. Where the deposit is heavy — a plant room or an unused roof space that has been occupied for years — treat it as a specialist job, not a maintenance task for a caretaker with a broom.
The other thing left behind is bird mites. When a nest is abandoned, or the young fledge and the adults stop returning, mites that were living on the birds move out looking for a host and commonly appear inside the building beneath the nest site. Occupants describe it as an unexplained biting problem with nothing visible. Where that is the presenting complaint, the nest above the ceiling is what needs finding, alongside an internal treatment.
Bird proofing pairs naturally with commercial pest control for strata buildings, retail and warehouses, and with a pest inspection where the roof void has been open for a while and nobody is sure what else is up there.
Related Services and Service Areas
Roof void access problems rarely stop at birds. If you are hearing movement overhead or finding droppings you cannot place, these pages cover the rest:
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is it legal to remove birds in New South Wales?
Native birds are protected under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and must not be harmed, taken or interfered with without authorisation from NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. Feral pigeons, common mynas, common starlings and house sparrows are introduced species and are not protected native fauna. Whatever the species, our work is physical exclusion — netting, spikes, mesh and sealing entry points.
Will you remove a magpie or a nest of native birds?
How much does bird proofing cost?
Can you stop pigeons nesting under my solar panels?
How long does bird netting last?
Do I need to clean up the droppings before proofing goes on?
Something is biting us but we cannot see anything — could it be birds?
Do you work on strata buildings and commercial sites?
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