I was looking into this for my mum over the hoidays, similar problem of a flood light being triggered by the wind and the neighbours cats and dog so we are now thinking about an outside light that accepts GU10 bulbs on a daylight sensor.
Her light is outside the backdoor with a switch in the kitchen so we figured that she can switch it on before she go to work and if it is dark the light will come on and then when she is home from work the light will be on if required and she can switch it off when she makes dinner.
I figure a couple of 5W led GU10 Bulbs will be way more efficient than the flood light and should provide enough light to navigate the three steps and path down to the car when it is dark.