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Fall Migration Checklist: What Food Facilities, Industrial Sites & Municipalities Should Do Now

Avitrol Corportation | October 9, 2025

Each fall, millions of birds travel south across North America - and many make a stop on your property along the way.

For food facilities, industrial sites, and municipalities, this isn’t just a wildlife event - it’s a high-risk period for contamination, damage, and costly cleanup. Migrating birds are unpredictable, persistent, and often arrive in large numbers.

Here’s what’s happening right now - and what you should be doing to stay ahead of it.

🚨 The Problems Fall Migration Brings to Your Facility

1. Large Roosting Flocks Move In Overnight
Species like starlings, grackles, and pigeons migrate and flock together in the thousands. Once they find a structure that offers warmth and shelter - rafters, roofs, ledges, silos, signage, or utility poles - they’ll return night after night. Their droppings and nesting materials can clog drains, corrode metal, and ruin insulation or wiring.

2. Food Contamination Risks Increase
For food facilities, migrating birds are more than a nuisance - they’re a contamination hazard. Droppings, feathers, and debris can enter air intake systems or land near loading docks and raw ingredient storage areas, creating sanitation and compliance risks.

3. Parking Lots and Waste Areas Become Feeding Zones
Flocks gather around dumpsters, retention ponds, and employee break areas where crumbs and food waste collect. In municipalities, trash bins and park areas become feeding spots that draw birds closer to buildings and public spaces.

4. Bird Droppings Damage Infrastructure and Reputation
Droppings are acidic and corrosive. On industrial roofs and railings, they eat away at metal and paint. On sidewalks and public areas, they’re unsightly, slippery, and can quickly lead to customer or citizen complaints.

5. Health and Safety Concerns Multiply
Bird droppings harbor bacteria and fungi like Histoplasma capsulatum - a respiratory hazard for maintenance and sanitation staff. In production or warehouse settings, accumulated droppings also create slip-and-fall risks and violate safety standards.

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🛠️ What You Should Be Doing Right Now

1. Inspect and Document Activity Weekly
Walk your site weekly, especially around rooflines, loading docks, vents, and outdoor storage. Document new roosting or nesting activity. Migration can bring a sudden influx of birds within days - early detection makes control easier.

2. Eliminate Attractants Immediately

Keep dumpsters and compactors tightly closed
Schedule more frequent waste pickups
Fix standing water issues around retention areas or storm drains
Limit outdoor feeding zones and exposed food waste

3. Review Your Bird Control Strategy
Fall is the right time to update your deterrent plan before winter roosting patterns set in. Many facilities move beyond netting or spikes to include Avitrol products - proven, regulated solutions that modify flock behavior and encourage birds to relocate safely and humanely.

4. Protect Air Intakes and Equipment
For food facilities and industrial plants, ensure all vents, fans, and intakes are screened and droppings-free. A small roost above an intake can contaminate airflow and violate compliance standards.

5. Manage Night Lighting
Migrating birds navigate by the stars and can be drawn off course by bright facility lighting. Reduce unnecessary overnight lights, shield fixtures downward, and use motion sensors where possible - especially near tall buildings and tower structures.

6. Schedule Preventive Cleanings
Don’t wait until birds are gone to clean. Routine droppings removal reduces corrosion, eliminates slip hazards, and keeps sanitation scores intact.

🌍 The Bottom Line

Fall migration happens fast - but its impact can linger all season if not managed early. By taking action now, you can avoid product contamination, property damage, and public complaints. Birds will keep moving south. The goal isn’t to stop them - it’s to make sure they keep moving past your facility.