Thanks to our warm temperatures, turkey vultures make their homes in the Tulsa area during the summer and fall months – and they can be a huge problem for home and business owners who have a roof to care for. There have been many different instances of these birds causing thousands of dollars in damages for building owners. No matter the age of your roof or its condition, you should take precautionary steps to help protect your roof against these airborne vermin. Here are a few tips to do so.
Why Do Turkey Vultures Damage Roofs?
In order to protect against turkey vultures, it’s important to know why they cause so much damage. Roofing surfaces are designed to withstand years of repeated exposure to the elements, but they do so at a cost: they’re usually not very durable to people (or birds) walking on them or dropping objects. This is perhaps even truer when it comes to pecking, which turkey vultures have an affinity for doing.
While the exact reason turkey vultures love roofs isn’t fully known, many experts theorize they are attracted to the crackling and popping sounds your roof makes as it expands and contracts throughout the heat-to-cool cycles of the day. The birds often mistake these sounds for the presence of insects, which are their primary diet. When these birds here the popping noises, they swoop in and start pecking at the roof, attempting to extract bugs that don’t actually exist. (Nobody ever mistook them for smart birds, mind you.)
Similarly, turkey vultures could try to set up their nest on a roof. When looking for a strong, flat surface to build their home, turkey vultures perhaps have no better place to look than a roof, where they can be hidden from sight, and possibly even have a food source nearby. Roosting also leads to damage, as the birds will frequently walk on your roof, scratching at it and potentially damaging the sealed surface. Roosting aside, some birds simply land on roofs to clean themselves, and use the roof as a way of bashing out dirt and other debris they catch in their beaks.
Preventing Turkey Vulture Damage
Preventing damage from turkey vultures often involves simply keeping them off your roof in the first place. Many business owners will place tapes and spikes along the parapets of their roofs to prevent the birds from landing on them. Without a place to perch, the birds will often pass on to the next building they can find, leaving yours unharmed. However, these tend to be ugly and can give your building a somewhat foreboding appearance that many people find unattractive.
To avoid this, some owners place fake plastic owls in a few spots on the roof. Owls and vultures tend to not get along, and the vultures avoid contact with owls as much as possible. When placed properly, these owls can be very convincing to a turkey vulture, and they’ll think twice about settling on a roof that’s already occupied.
If none of these deterrents have worked, and your roof is still continually being damaged, consult a Tulsa roofer from T-Town Roofers. We have more than 30 years of experience and can provide you with exceptional repairs and trustworthy advice for scaring the turkey vultures away.
Call T-Town Roofers today at (918) 212-8184 to request an estimate or schedule a repair service!