Owning a beautiful pool with clean water and a modern design is a blessing, especially during the hot months. But you know how it goes; with good comes with the bad. And the bad ones include bird droppings, feathers, dried leaves, debris, and more.
Apart from the awful mess all of this makes in your pool deck, patio, or even the lawn, birds/bird droppings can also carry infections that can damage humans.
So how do you keep birds away from your swimming pool? Well, that’s exactly what we will explore in this extensive guide. Here are 13 insider tips and tricks that you can use to keep the birds away from your pool area.
1. Remove bird feeders
When you want to keep the birds away, the first thing you should do is if you have a bird feeder around your pool to remove it, perhaps to the other side of your house.
Most of the time, these birds search for food, and keeping bird feeders around your pool or even having long grass in your lawn area will attract birds. So to prevent that, you must ensure you cut your grass lawn as well as avoid growing any edibles of plants or trees like berries, fruits, etc., near your pool.
2. Scaring birds away
The truth is, birds are easy to scare, so to help you do that, there are fake predator objects like rubber snakes and plastic predators like plastic owl decoys, which can stop birds from attacking your pool area.
Many pool owners on the pool forums say using floating rubber snakes works well. Just make sure that a real one hasn’t joined them before you swim!
Along with this, getting fake predators birds like hawks, falcons, or a fake owl decoy can help you frighten birds away. Make sure you place a predator bird or birds such as plastic owls around your pool like a nearby tree or even scatter them all over your property, making it easily visible to the birds. Also, keep moving these plastic predators so that these birds don’t get used to them.
Some of these decoys emit sounds and you can even buy an owl with a head that rotates making it look even more real, to birds anyway. See the Plastic Owl Scarecrow Sculpture with Rotating Head on Amazon.
3. Use reflective objects
Another way of keeping birds away from your pool is by altering their vision. Okay, so here ‘blinding’ does not mean you harm the bird in any manner; in fact, the United States Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act and State laws prohibit injuring or killing birds. So how do you blind the birds? Well, that’s where reflective objects come in.
Although you must remember that these reflective objects won’t permanently cause any harm to birds, the flash/reflection of the sun’s rays blindsides and scares birds. You can use metal plates, shiny party streamers, aluminum foil etc., to ward off birds. You can even use mirrors that are not only cost-effective but also does the job pretty well.
However, you have set these up to work properly. Some common places you can position these objects can be around the solar cover, grass lawn area, and more.
4. Get an ultrasonic sound system
Putting up an extremely high-pitched noise system in your swimming pool area is an excellent way to keep birds away. Most of these devices come pre-installed with motion-activated ultrasonic sound systems, which activate as soon as it detects any movement in the pool anytime.
There are a plethora of sound systems that have been put forward to help prevent birds from congregating around your pool. An ultrasonic sound system produces an extremely high-pitched sound that is undetectable by humans but can be easily spotted by birds. These devices produce sounds of injured/ troubled birds or noises comparable to predator birds.
You can buy the DURANOM Ultrasonic Animal Repellent on Amazon.
5. Install wind chimes
When you want to keep birds away from your pool efficiently without compromising the aesthetic of your pool area, then setting up wind chimes is an excellent choice. Moreover, these wind chimes produce strange and unpleasant noises to the birds, and the shiny metal design of these objects also helps to repel all bird species.
Apart from scaring away the birds, these wind chimes also make a fantastic decorative piece by your pool deck or porch. Although the sound of these scares birds away, for humans, on the other hand, the noise is soothing to listen to. So keep these wind chimes outdoor to make them more effective in repelling the birds.
5. Bird diverters
If you are looking for an affordable solution to your bird problems, then getting a bird diverter, preferably reflective ones, are a great option.
Typically, bird diverters are these little circular tags that illustrate a predator bird’s eye, which helps scare the birds away from the swimming pool area. These bird diverters should be placed in clear views of the pool deck, tree branches, deck railing, etc. This makes it visible to the birds, and the wind blows give these deterrents movement.
These Chephon Bird Scare Discs Set are popular on Amazon.
7. Buy some inflatable floating pool toys
The next tip to keep birds away from your pool area is by setting up a few floating pool predators in your pool. The wind will move them around the surface of the pool which will make the birds nervous.
Of course, they have the added benefit that kids and others love playing with them.
I made the following video for fun but it does show how pool toys can keep birds away by moving around in the pool even when there is just a gentle breeze.
8. Pinwheels to scare birds away
This trick will not only help you scare off birds but also be a fun object to put up in your swimming pool area, especially when you have kids around. Pinwheels are mostly multi-colored or even metallic objects which spin, creating a whirlpool of motion and noise that help you scare birds away.
It is better to go for a metallic pinwheel as it can reflect light which further deters the birds.
You can get these pinwheels from your nearby local children’s toy store. Also, you must make sure you secure these spinning wheels near a windy area like the pool deck or a tree.
You can buy these Bird Blinder Sparkly Pin Wheels on Amazon.
9. Use pool covers
The truth is, you will not be using your swimming pool all the time, so what’s better than securing it with a pool cover to keep it clean from bird poop, cold, leaves, and more?
These pool covers prevent many birds from landing on your pool, and if you use a solar pool cover it will have the advantage of keeping the water warm too.
10. Remove bird baths & fountains
Even though having a beautiful fountain on your green lawn or getting a birth bath seems like a great idea, this can attract many birds, especially during the summers. So it is recommended you build these fountains away from your swimming pool area and get rid of birdbaths.
11. Eliminate roosting areas
If you have bushes or shrubs around your swimming pool area, then you should prune them so that it doesn’t serve as a roosting or breeding area. Most birds build a nest in dense vegetation as it protects them from any external threats like a predator and is perfect for laying eggs.
Although you must inspect the bushes thoroughly to ensure that there are no pre-existing nests or predator birds, and if you find any nests already in the shrubs, then you should leave them there until the babies are out safe to relocate the nest. The most important part is not harming eggs or birds while trimming the roosting areas.
12. Take expert help
If you have a major bird problem that the mentioned tips and tricks cannot solve, then you should take professional help to prevent birds. These experts will use various devices and methods to solve the problem.
For instance, they can use motion-activated ultrasonic repellent or a bird chase supersonic, which creates unbearable noise for the birds. Moreover, they can use electric track bird deterrents that produce mild shocks that do not cause any severe harm to the bird but ensure that the birds are uncomfortable to deter from your pool.
Methods I don’t like to frighten birds
Although some sites may suggest using these bird deterrents to stop birds from coming near your pool, I am not in favor of them as:
- they can be dangerous for the birds
- they can be annoying to remove when you want to use the pool
Bird netting
Although bird netting can deter birds quickly there is every chance that they may get tangled in the net.
If a bird lands on the netting (as it may not notice it when flying in) it would be easy for it to get its legs tangled in the netting and become trapped or injured.
Also it might be possible for a bird to get under the netting and drown.
Fishing line
Some recommend running fishing line across your pool which would discourage birds but that is not very convenient when you want to swim, unless you can string the fishing line up high in your pool area.
Pest Control
If all else fails, you might think about calling in pest control. I must warn you that some professionals do insist on using poison to keep the problem at bay. That is certainly not something I would be prepared to do and, in fact, the United States Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act and State laws rightly prohibit injuring or killing birds
Pool Care Handbook and Video Course
Swim University’s Pool Care Handbook and Video Course is a game changer. It will teach you everything from cleaning and pool chemistry to pool opening and closing.
Swim University offers a no-quibble refund policy too, so, what do you have to lose?
Frequently Asked Questions
Are bird poop or bird droppings in the pool dangerous?
Bird poops (or bird droppings if you prefer) have various germs, some of which can be dangerous to humans. Make sure you clean your pool thoroughly; an automatic pool cleaner will be a great option to maintain overall hygiene. Moreover, pool owners should make sure their pool has the correct level of chlorine, as that would also help keep the pool sanitized.
Pool owners should watch out for birds like ducks, geese, and other birds as their bird poop can contain Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Cryptosporidium, which are infectious to humans.
How do I deter birds from my pool?
To keep birds from your swimming pool deck or patio without going through much hassle, you can put up some reflective objects or mirrors to ‘blind’ the birds, use inflated toys, etc.
If you are a proud dog owner, then you can even use the help of your dog to scare birds off your property. My dog loves this but never gets even close to catching any.
Further, some wind chimes and pinwheels also help to deter birds, especially on a windy day. You can even sprinkle baking soda over your grass lawn area or near the porch as the smell will repel birds.
What is a natural bird repellent?
If you aren’t a big fan of using chemical-based products to deter birds, then some natural repellent, which you can easily prepare in your home, is your way to go.
You make a spray with ingredients like essential oils like peppermint, garlic, pepper, vinegar, and more. Birds don’t like the smell of these and therefore avoid the area.
Furthermore, you can even mix some baking soda in your lawn sprinkler, as this too will help you repel the birds from your swimming pool deck, porch, or even the patio.
How to keep birds from nesting by your pool?
The best way to prevent any breeding near your swimming pool is to trim and prune the trees, shrubs, or any kind of vegetation nearby. However, there are other ways to do this as well:
- Use citrus repellents
- Make your pets help you
- Clear all the twigs or dried leaves
- Install sets of bird spikes.
- Get reflective and shiny objects to scare the birds away
- Pinwheels and wind chimes
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I have had hot tubs for over 20 years and a pool for the last 11 years. I had to learn how to clean, maintain and fix them the hard way. Since then I have helped many friends and neighbors with their pools and now I want to share everything I have learned with you. About Me
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