Get out...and stay out!

Spring time is critter exclusion time.  It turns out that you have to be both ingenious and tenacious to prevent a variety of birds (and other creatures) from using your dwelling to raise their families.

Eastern Phoebes like to glue their nests of twigs, moss and mud into the various crevices and ledges of our house.  They are adorable little fellows but unwelcome at the house because they are poopy birds that leave unsightly stains and insect-attracting debris around their nest sites.  Bill's solution has been to insert temporary "fillers" into various places around the house to close off the most enticing crevices.  

Another favorite site for the Phoebes has been the high ledges of our screened porch.  Inspired by the billboard companies that add big spikes to the tops of their signs to deter pigeons and other birds from roosting and pooping, Bill has lined our ledges with rows of unwelcoming nails.

This has been our first year for Starlings.  I don't know why they've only just now shown themselves in these parts, but my hope is that we make our house and property so unattractive that they move on permanently.  Starlings are unwelcome throughout North America because they are a non-native species that displace our native ones.  They are unwelcome at our house because they build twiggy nests inside our gutters and downspouts which clog them up and are really difficult to clear out.  Bill's solution - which seems to be working so far - has been to stuff some pointy chicken wire into the gutters and downspouts.

For the past several weeks we've had wasps and ladybugs (technically, they are Asian Lady Beetles) exploring every nook and cranny of the stone foundation and chimneys, and some have even made their way inside the screened porch and house.  We don't particularly want either of these insects getting a foothold, as they can do harm to people and property. But because our stone provides so many attractive nesting spaces, I'm afraid that excluding these guys will require professional intervention and some toxic chemicals.  This has me greatly concerned over the negative impact that said chemicals may have on our bird and bat and butterfly visitors.

It can be a real struggle, this concept of co-existence.  What is the "best" way to appreciate Nature while having the smallest possible impact on it?  We humans are integral members of our ecosystem...by virtue of us living here in the woods, among the birds and bats and deer and insects, we have an impact.   So when it comes to being environmentally conscious, it is sometimes really hard to know whether our actions do more harm than good.