11/15/07 - CITY NEWS - City struggles to deal with roosting crow infestation

Bob Ellis/staff photographer
Crows roost in a tree on the former Rosen property, south of Huntington Street Wednesday afternoon.

(As Published by Cortland Standard, Aimee Milks reporting)

Aesa Kailas was walking home with friends last weekend after being downtown for Cortaca Jug-related activities when a large flock of crows flew out above them.

“One of my friends got pooped on,” Kailas said Wednesday evening as he loaded groceries into his vehicle, which was covered in bird droppings.

The city has had a crow infestation for the last four or five years in fall and winter. Each year, the Common Council has taken measures to scare away the birds from roosting by hiring Sweeney’s Pest Elimination.

Mike Sweeney said the company would use a loud device that launches out of a starter pistol. This would scare the birds to another area. Last year, the city paid $437 for the service, which Sweeney did three nights in a row. Sweeney said the cost fluctuates each year from between $300 and $500.

This year, however, Mayor Thomas Gallagher said there is no money in the city’s budget to hire someone to scare the crows away from the city. See Resolution #101 of 2007, to be adopted as Local Law #3 of 2007... I am never one to deny a person pay, but - for the Mayor to get an $11,200 raise before budget figures are released, and then a 10% City tax increase proposed? The City says they can't spend a couple of hundred dollars to try to eliminate the tons of crow feces that falls on city streets, cars, etc. in a week? How much does it cost the City to clean up their properties, let alone the taxpayers? If 1000 people go through the local carwashes and each pay $5 ONE TIME to remove crow poop, don't you think a few hundred dollars would seem like money well spent?

Instead of hiring Sweeney’s Pest Elimination, Gallagher said the Cortland City Police Department and Fire Department will be going through the neighborhoods where the crows are prevalent and using air horns and power lights to scare the crows away.

Gallagher said this will be done at the convenience of the city police officers and city firefighters and will be done until it is no longer effective or needed.

Dottie Thornton, a medical services clerk at the County Mental Health Clinic, said she washes her car every other day to try to get all the bird droppings off.

“It covers everyone’s car,” she said. “Sometimes it’s very hard to get off and you have to be careful not to chip your paint.”

She added that her co-workers are also fed up with the mess on their vehicles after work.
“We know there is nothing we can do about it. What are you going to do, it’s a part of nature,” Thornton said. “I love the bird but I hate the output.”

Lance Clark, a senior wildlife biologist for the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Cortlandville office, said the crows come to the city in the evenings looking for a place to roost.
“Cities tend to be a warmer, food rich environment with garbage and restaurants,” Clark said. “Certainly they are able to fend for themselves in the wild but it’s easier here. When they are in large groups they are also less likely to be killed by predators.”

Both Gallagher and Sweeney said there are not many more crows than in previous years. “There seems to be just as many,” Sweeney said. Last year, it was estimated there were approximately 15,000 crows in Cortland.

Clark said the crow problem is common in any city of any size and they will disperse when the winter weather breaks in March, the same time as when the birds breed.

Sweeney said he has not received any complaints from individual residents concerning the crows in the area, but added that it would be hard to help them anyway.

“There is not much you can do for the individual because the devices we use are so loud that we would need to publicize it,” he said.

Gallagher said residents could scare the crows away by shining bright lights or banging pots and pans. Clark also suggested laser lights and sometimes if one can get close enough, spraying the birds with a hose.

Causing bodily harm is illegal, though, Clark said.

Although crows are both state and federally protected, there is a crow hunting season in Cortland County which runs from Sept. 15 to March 15, Fridays through Mondays. Crow hunters do not need to be registered, but hunting inside the city is illegal, and no firearm may be discharged within 500 feet of any dwelling.

“There is no real human health concern” from crows, Clark said. “There will be a lot of dropping in the places they roost at night, which obviously contain bacteria like any other animal dropping. But I don’t know of any health concern to humans.”