Bird Barrier America has soared to the horizon and beyond since the company took flight in 1993. Back then, Bird Barrier offered three products warehoused in a facility in Redondo Beach, Calif. What a difference a quarter-century makes! Today, Bird Barrier America operates a facility in Carson, Calif., and offers thousands of products and training programs for pest bird exclusion and related waste remediation, nest cleanup and structural damage repairs. Bird Barrier solutions cover:
- All core pest birds: crows, geese, grackles, gulls, pigeons, sparrows, starlings, swallows, turkey vultures, woodpeckers, etc.
- All core bird-control types: netting, spikes, electrified tracks, traps, deterrents, repellents, etc.
- All core structure types: single- and multi-family homes, apartments, airports, parking structures, hotels and restaurants, health care facilities, airports, retail/offices, rooftops/HVAC systems, historic buildings, industrial complexes, etc.
Its three original products, the Bird Coil, Daddi Long Legs and Peacock, were invented and patented by Vic Chatten, a former U.S. Navy officer, deep-sea diver, and occasional stuntman for John Wayne. When tinkerer Chatten passed away about 15 years ago, his dream was lifted even higher under the leadership of Cameron Riddell, Bird Barrier president and CEO, and Riddell’s friends, Joe Bollinger and John Houghton, who purchased the patents. While two of Chatten’s original products remain solid sellers, the company has expanded its offering to include StealthNet exclusion netting and hardware, Bird-Flite Spikes, Bird-Shock Flex-Track, Eagle Eye, Tree-Shock, Dura-Spike, and Optical Gel and other innovations. All of Bird Barrier products are humane; they repel pest birds, prompting them to move to other locations without hurting them. Case in point; Bird Barrier Bird-Shock carries an endorsement from the U.S. Humane Society.
Solutions = Products & Training
In 1994, Riddell approached pest control products distributor Univar (than named Van Waters & Rogers), and proposed a training program for its customers. “Univar thought it was a great idea,” Riddell recalls. “Their representatives in offices around the U.S. invited local pest control operators for a two-day training class. We’d show up with boxes of tools and equipment, and a carousel of slides, and teach the group all about bird control.”
The first day featured classroom instruction, while the second day took the class out onto a real building where a bird problem was solved using Bird Barrier products. Bird Barrier continues to teach its class 24 years later, and many of its customers credit the class with their start in the business.
“Our mission is to have a solution that lasts for every kind of bird problem,” Riddell says. “Since our start, we’ve focused on developing and delivering solutions that solve pest bird problems that could not be solved. We’re almost there. Today, there are few pest bird problems that cannot be solved with Bird Barrier solutions.”
“It’s hard to believe how fast the years have flown by,” Riddell adds. “I was 30 years old when we started in a shop with one box of product. Now I’m 55, my kids have almost flown the coop, and our warehouse is busting at the seams. Time flies.”