Every year, without fail, birds come to my garden and wreak havoc. They peck at my blueberries, poop on my lettuce, and nab my strawberries. I thought I’d tried everything to deter them. I considered getting a cat. I’ve even resorted to reading about ancient methods of bird deterrents for gardens.
The two main ways people have traditionally tried to scare away birds are with bird tape and reflective pinwheels, which work pretty well for the most part, but they stop flying in the breeze and spinning once your garden fills up with foliage from your plants.
Then you have garden owls. I find the most effective one is solar-powered and motion-activated so it hoots at your foes. If you just get one that sits there, the birds catch on real fast.
I’ve been on the hunt for the best bird deterrents for gardens for some time now, and I feel confident that the list below includes the best solutions.
1. Predator Kite – XKites Birds of Prey Owl
Bird kites are surprisingly effective if you live in an area that gets decent wind. Not only will they scare off birds, but they can also keep rodents and bunnies away too. The trick to using these is to secure a tall pole over your garden, and secure the kite to a short line attached to it so that it won’t get stuck on anything down below when the wind isn’t blowing. The XKites Birds of Prey Owl kite gets great reviews from other gardeners who use it for the purpose of scaring away birds and rodents.
2. Heavy-Duty Netting – De-Bird Garden Netting
De-Bird Garden Netting is the top-reviewed bird netting on Amazon, and I think it’s one of the best bird deterrents for gardens. I have never had an animal caught in it and I use it pretty much exclusively in my garden. You could say that netting is netting is netting, but this stuff is very durable and easy to use. It’s easy to cut to size and throw over blueberry bushes, cold frames, or hoop tunnels to keep crops safe from hungry beaks.
3. Distress Sounds – Bird-X BirdXpeller Pro
As it turns out, birds don’t like to hear other birds in distress, so bird boxes that play natural bird sounds and predator calls are particularly effective at keeping them away, though they are a bit annoying. If you have close neighbors, they may not approve, but neither will the birds. The Bird-X BirdXpeller Pro gets particularly great reviews and will cover about an acre.
There are also silent (to us) sonic deterrents that emit a high-pitched sound that only birds can hear, but I’ve never heard good things about those devices, so I’m not even including them in this list.
And if you want more of an all-in-one device, this Ultrasonic Solar Animal Repellent is a motion-activated device that sounds sirens and flashes lights. It seems annoying to me, but the reviews are promising. I wonder if it works on bears who like to get into the trash, too!
4. Bird Spikes – Bird-X Bird Spikes
Bird spikes are one of the best bird deterrents for gardens. If bird poop is a real problem, then you probably already know why it’s happening. You have a large trellis or arbor that birds sit and perch on throughout the day and send down waves of poo as they chatter with one another. Bird-X Bird Spikes can solve this issue by not giving the birds a comfortable place to perch.
5. Motion-Activated Sprinkler – Hoont Cobra
I love this option for many reasons, and one of them is that it’ll get the cats dropping trow in my garden too. Sure, it might be going off all day for one reason or another, and you’ll get hit for sure when you forget about it, but this bird deterrent method with the highly-rated Hoont Cobra is successful, and it’s battery-operated.
Now it’s your turn. What do you think are the best bird deterrents for gardens? What are you using? I’m sure there are others who would like to know too!
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It is CRUEL to use bird spikes. I cannot tell you how many birds end up with crippling injuries that fester and kill the birds with infection, not to say how excrucuiatingly painful these are. Many lose their feet.
I cannot believe that you would even publish this. You need to show some humanity. So they eat some of your produce? So what – you can shop. They can’t. Shame on you for this selfish attitude. They struggle to survive.
Hi Gail, thank you for sharing your concerns. I completely understand your point, and I agree that the wellbeing of birds is important. I only mentioned bird spikes for situations where birds are continually perching and creating unsanitary conditions over produce, not simply for eating fruit. When installed correctly, bird spikes are designed to gently deter birds from landing, not to injure them, and they are often considered less harmful than options like netting, which can entangle and severely injure birds, but are still necessary particularly in commercial farming. Of course, each garden situation is different, and I encourage everyone to choose the most humane method that fits their needs. I like the sprinkler, personally. I appreciate your passion for protecting wildlife. – Amanda
The only problem with netting is that I’ve had birds tangled in it and they either died or it was hard to get them out/off. I’m thinking about netting my blueberries and blackberries this year. I litetally got none, zipped, zero. They ate them all. ????????????????
For seeds I use recycled plastic nursery flats to keep the birds from getting them while they get started. I also use them in the bare areas around larger plants to deter cats & squirrels.