Neither color has research behind it on keeping birds out. Black bird netting is the usual recommendation on buildings, but that advice is about how the net looks against the wall, not about how the mesh performs. No research compares bird exclusion between the two colors. So bird netting color is a looks decision, and you can settle it the way you would settle trim paint.
Gravel crunches under my boots on the path between the beds, and from 10 feet (3 m) back the black net over the first frame reads as open air. The white net on the next frame catches the sun and glows like a tent. I used the same mesh off the same roll for both, on the same afternoon. Black sat against dark cedar posts and the shaded leaves behind them, so it dropped out of sight. White sat against that same dark background and pulled the eye straight to it. I checked both frames through August and the birds stayed out of each one.
Color changes one thing you can measure, and that is how much the net stands out against whatever sits behind it. Shade is a separate question, and the two get mixed up a lot. OSU Extension EM 9286 puts the light that crop netting blocks at roughly 30% to 80%, and it ties that spread to mesh size and construction rather than to the color of the yarn. No source measures that shade by color. Do not buy white hoping for more sun on the fruit under it.
ICWDM comes at the choice from the other side. You can spray-paint netting to match the building it hangs on, so the net borrows the color of the wall instead of fighting it. The same source lists 1 inch (2.5 cm) mesh for screening ornamental stonework against roosting and nesting, and calls black the best pick most of the time. That netting is UV-stabilized polypropylene, and it can last as long as 10 years. The stabilizer buys those years. Sellers who quote a longer warranty for one color are making a claim nobody outside the factory has checked.
Netting comes in two families. One is rigid plastic mesh sold on spools, and the other is knit drape netting of HDPE yarn that bunches into sacks when you take it down. Both are made in either color, and neither family hides better on its own. The background you hang it against does the deciding.
Dark brick, a shaded soffit and open sky at dusk swallow black bird netting whole. Pale stucco and white painted trim do the same for a light one. An arbor with nothing but sky behind it is the hard case, since that background shifts color from morning to evening. Match the net to the surface behind it and most people walk past your fruit without seeing it.
- Drops out of sight against dark brick, weathered wood, shaded leaves and soffits.
- The usual pick on buildings, and easy to match with spray paint.
- Reads as a faint shadow line from the street rather than a sheet of mesh.
- White bird netting vanishes on pale stucco, light stone and painted trim.
- Glows against dark walls and low sun, so it shows from a long way off.
- Grime marks the pale yarn, so the run starts to look old sooner.
Stand where visitors stand and look past the net at what fills the space behind it. The background picks the color for you, and it beats any rule of thumb you read on a product page. Nobody sells truly invisible bird netting, though your black run under a shaded soffit gets close from the sidewalk.
Order black bird netting unless the wall behind it runs light. Size the mesh to the birds you want out, and check the yarn carries a UV stabilizer, since that is what sets how many seasons you get out of the run. Strength claims tied to color come off a sales sheet. Buy on mesh and material, then let the wall pick the shade.
Read the full article: Bird Netting That Works Without Trapping
