Pigeons and starlings are a building problem before they are a bird problem. They roost on ledges, in roof cavities and under solar panels, and the mess underneath is acidic enough to eat into paintwork and Colorbond over time. Nests in a gutter or a box gutter are how plenty of ceiling leaks start. The dry droppings and the bird mites left behind when a nest is abandoned are the part people underestimate: mites come down through the ceiling looking for a host once the birds have gone.
Scaring birds off does not hold. Closing the roost does. That means netting under solar panels, spikes on ledges and parapets, and mesh over eaves gaps and vents. Commercial sites around North Shore and the Corio industrial strip cop the worst of it, usually starlings in the roof steel. We clear and sanitise the old nesting material first, then proof the openings, because throwing netting over a live mite population just traps the problem inside.
