Managing Buzzards, Grackles & LBJs; Plus 'Goose Roundup'

That is if you are looking for the quick solution. There is a growing business for bird control. A few companies have attacked it big time; others sort of dabble in it. If any pest control program was tailor-made for an integrated pest management (IPM) approach, it is in the vertebrate control arena. Bird control, being a somewhat sensitive area to work in, offers some of the greatest challenges to the pest control industry.

Now, when you think of bird control, what do you think of? Probably pigeons first and foremost, followed closely by starlings. There are a whole complex of those "little brown jobs," or LBJs as a friend of mind often referred to them, that can include some protected species. And what about geese? (I'm sure you golfers out there know what I mean.) And crows, sparrows, gulls, grackles and buzzards. (Yes, I said buzzards--vultures--those big black things.) And, of course, woodpeckers. We are challenged to answer some interesting problems for the public. So how do we deal with them?

If I hear of one more PCO who is going to set a rat trap for a woodpecker, I'm going to call the Feds! Doing this is tantamount to shooting and eating a bald eagle which, by the way, I am told tastes a little like whooping crane. All kidding aside, woodpeckers are protected under federal law. There is no need to set traps for them. I have used Mylar strips, balloons, and owl statues to scare them off. You also may try to solve the carpenter bee problem, which is the real attractant in many cases.

What about geese problems? Nothing is registered for them. There has been a product on the market for about a year called ReJex-It. Sprayed on water or grass, it will leave a bad taste in the birds' mouths, and they move on. I haven't tried it yet, but will this year. However, you may want to check out the label be fore you spray it on a bass pond. And make sure it is registered in your state.

Another method that may solve some geese problems around lakes and ponds is the use of swan decoys. But it has to be a family of swans. Swans are fiercely territorial during mating and nesting. Not many geese will take them on; it's easier to simply avoid them.

DOWN AT THE GOOSE CORRAL. Then, you can always have a goose roundup. At a certain time of year geese molt and can't fly. It's easier to round them up that way. If you want more stories on that, call Kevin Clark at Critter Control in Plymouth, Mich. He's still picking feathers out of his hair from the last roundup.

Dealing with our normal bird problems--pigeons, starlings, sparrows and so forth--is what we usually talk about. In some cases we resort to chemicals to reduce populations or move them out of an area. However, I see more and more management companies, as well as more and more government contracts, beginning to require longer-lasting solutions.

Netting, bird wire, barriers of plastic, metal "slinkys," and sharp pointed materials have dominated this area of bird control. These devices have gained moderate success. The more "technological" breakthroughs with electrical deterrents have given us back a tool that we placed on the back burner for many years. There still are some buildings in Washington with little white resisters visible all over the columns.

Of course, there is always the pellet gun. And netting birds in traps, usually pigeons, is a real practice in patience. As is finding a restaurant that serves squab.

Then we still have the old ultrasonic devices around. Hasn't anyone told these people that birds don't hear ultrasonics? Noise devices are used primarily in agriculture, where the birds targeted have alarm signals. Pigeons don't, at least in the pure sense of the meaning. And placing loud scare devices around buildings in urban settings may create more of a problem than the birds themselves.

We do have those nice carbide cannons and shell crackers that can be used to break up bird roosts, especially for starlings and crows. But pick your spot for these and get a permit from the appropriate local government officials before you do this. You may want to notify the local police, too. No need to get those people upset they have real guns.

ACCESS DENIED. For all the work that has been done in the area of developing physical methods to deter birds, I'm surprised at how little they are used. I know, I know the customers don't want to pay; they want a quick solution. Bird-proofing is quick. Put it up and the birds are gone. And it is permanent. Maybe that is the problem no repeat customers.

And yes, bird control through "proofing" is a hard sell in many cases. Admittedly, most of the big jobs are done because everything else has been tried, or put up inadequately, or there are health or food contamination concerns. As usual, we train our public well over the years, telling them we could poison the birds or move them for a short time. Think of it this way: Build birds out, exclude them from their roost, and they have to go somewhere. And maybe you will get that call, too.

As I mentioned earlier, bird control is tailor-made for the IPM approach. First, identify the problem; then, figure out what may work. May is the key word here because it can be a hit-and-miss situation. I have seen owls work for woodpeckers, and I have seen them fail. They work best when they can move; hanging the owl around the eaves so they move with the wind has worked pretty well.

And what about those buzzards? There's nothing like a big black bird with a 5-foot wingspan banging into your office window in the afternoon to get your attention. The bigger the bird, the more complex the solution--possible. But my first choice would be to use wore or netting to keep them from the windows and an electrical setup to keep them off the ledges. In the spring there isn't generally a problem. It's during the winter when they prefer to roost on buildings. Then again, that could depend on what kind of buzzard I'm talking about,