TURKEY BUZZARDS & BLACK VULTURES TAKING OVER HERE!!!!!!!!! (STA BREAKING NEWS and ARCHIVES)

by pragnos , Friday, February 06, 2015, 09:37

STA readers;

Help! We live in a suburban neighborhood in a very liberal (restrictive) legal framework. Since early last fall we have been seeing more and more turkey buzzards and their colleagues black vultures "occupying' not just our neighborhood but literally our yard. We have tall mature white pines along our north property line and the west property line where these birds roost at night. We are freaking out because they are crapping and vomiting all over the place and they wont go away. Because we have such an uber liberal county we are very limited in options to get these birds out of here even as they claw away at peoples roofs and crap up everything underneath the trees with their foul smelling and potentially bio-hazardous excrement. They are protected under the Federal Migratory Bird act from nearly 100 years ago which has international standing. We have neighborhood people who feed feral cats and the birds love cat food! Argh! There are roof ridge spring wires and shock strips one can have installed for thousands that will help keep them off the roof, but what about decks, pools, gardens, etc?

When the birds are roosting in trees they cannot be harassed except by noise makers and laser spot lights that activate their fear of predators when they see the spot moving around on the branches. The commercial laser "fly away" units are $800-1400 each! The state wild life agency has a loaner, but the waiting list is long due to an expanding problem. A pest control guy told me at length to be careful not to violate the federal act as they are smacking their lips waiting to make and example of somebody to collect fines and destroy a person's reputation and maybe even put them in jail.

Why are they here? I have no doubt the unchecked white tail deer population is the reason. The deer are being killed regularly by cars and natural causes and the birds are eating the abundant carcasses. We also have huge problem with Lyme disease here from the deer. So this is war. We have to inform and enlist our neighbors to the damage and risk from these birds and ban together to drive the birds away where they will become somebody else's problem and then we can consult with them to show them how to get rid of them! LOL

Any successful experiences out there with keeping these pests away? -pragnos