FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] BKY:Blackbird phobia

["Roseanna" <roseanna@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I thought some of you might be interested in the article below that
appeared in the local paper, The Commonwealth Journal.

http://www.somerset-kentucky.com/search.cfm?search=detail&ID=2399

Any ideas what a "regular" blackbird could be?:o)?

~Roseanna Denton
Pulaski County

  Location Unknown
by   BILL MARDIS

Have you observed the untold millions of birds that blacken the sky
shortly after daybreak each morning and between sunset and dark at
night?
            It's almost scary. The innumerable feathered fowl rush out
of the southern horizon and wing northward across the heavens in almost
disciplined patterns, heading for feeding fields.
            Spurred by a raging metabolism, the birds, with insatiable
appetites, gobble everything in sight. Feeders, designed for songbirds,
are quickly emptied by the impolite, hoarse-voiced intruders.
            Blackbirds, both regular and redwing; grackles and
starlings, have caused problems in this community for more than 30
years. Some experts say the birds migrate to the Lake Cumberland area
during winter to escape the harsher cold of the Great Lakes Region.
Others believe the prolific egg-layers are native to these rolling
hills.
            Main concern about the swarms of birds is not flyover.
Residents of an area inhabited by the birds worry more about roosts.
From November until about mid-March, the cuddling creatures can disrupt
and endanger the lifestyle of a community.
            Fungi that cause histoplasmosis is in bird droppings.
Histoplasmosis is a disease most usually found in the Mississippi and
Ohio river valleys. It is marked by benign involvement of the lymph
nodes of the trachea and bronchi. Its progression can cause fever,
anemia and sometimes lesions of the skin, mouth or throat.
            Blackbirds, grackles and starlings are friendly creatures.
They apparently enjoy being around people, and more often than not pick
a roosting place in or near cities and towns. Obviously not class
conscious, roosts have plagued some of Somerset's better neighborhoods
during past years.
            Joe Metzmeier, wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest
Service, said as a general rule blackbirds and their collective cousins
prefer small patches of woodland rather than the deep forest.
            "They don't usually roost in unbroken forests, according to
Metzmeier. "They like a fragmented habitat," usually near a town.
            Metzmeier and the U.S. Forest Service were two of several
sources contacted by the Commonwealth Journal in an effort to locate the
roosting place of this winter's massive flock of birds. No luck.
            Metzmeier said he doesn't know the location of what has to
be a large roost.
            Pulaski County Judge-executive Darrell BeShears also
couldn't help.
            "I haven't heard where the bird roost is and my office
hasn't had any complaints," the judge-executive reported.
            Stuart Spillman, senior environmentalist at the Lake
Cumberland District Health Department, said no one has pinpointed the
bird roost to his office.
            The health department has propane-powered cannons designed
to scare blackbirds from roosts. Only sound propels from the cannon
barrels. No projectiles shoot forth and no birds are killed.
            Programmed to fire in sequence, cannons are loaned without
charge to anyone who needs to scare away birds.
            Jim Wesley, partially retired but still acting environmental
director for the district health department, introduced the cannons to
this area. The noisemakers replaced Tergitol, an industrial detergent
used for massive bird kills. The roosts were sprayed at night when the
temperature was in the high 30s to low 40s and the chemical washed oil
from the birds' feathers, resulting in death by hypothermia.
            Tree-hugging environmentalists, obviously with no roost near
their homes, strongly objected to what they considered an inhumane
method of freezing the birds to death.
            Nobody seems to know if there is a law prohibiting the use
of Tergitol, but drenching the birds with soapy water is not done
anymore.
            Wesley, who probably has been involved with the bird problem
more than anyone in the county, said he doesn't have the slightest idea
where the current roost is located.
            Ed Lohr, health program administrator for the state
Department of Public Health, noted that most complaints about bird
roosts are voiced to local health departments. He said his department at
the state level has had no requests for assistance in eradicating bird
roosts.
            Lohr said the birds usually congregate near a food source.
"Unfortunately, cities become a good source of food," he commented.
            Based on the flying pattern morning and night, the local
roost obviously is in a southerly direction. U.S. 27 seems to be guiding
ribbon for the twice-daily flights.
            "It (roost) could be in McCreary County," suggested Wesley.
He theorized that the roost is in a remote area because of the absence
of complaints.
            Rodney Dick, office manager for the Pulaski County Road
Department, was asked about the birds because of his knowledge of all
sections of the county.
            Dick said he hasn't seen or heard anything about a bird
roost.
            A spokesman at the Kentucky Division of Forestry also was
not aware of the location of the bird roost.
            During the early 1970s, Rocky Hollow, now site of a city
park, once was a bedroom where millions of birds put heads beneath
wings.
            Rocky Hollow stretches through downtown Somerset. The
northern edge of the ravine is about 50 yards south of South Main Street
behind the former Kenwick Hotel. It is bounded on the south by Cotter
Avenue; on the east by South Central Avenue; and on the west by South
Main Street behind where the former City Lumber Company was located.
            So many birds roosted in Rocky Hollow that trees bent
beneath the weight. Limbs as big as a man's leg were snapped. Bird
droppings were a foot deep on the ground.
            The birds eventually left Rocky Hollow for some unknown
reason. They moved to a new roost off Rush Branch Road.
            Equally famous as a bird roost was a pine thicket on the
property of General Electric Somerset Glass Plant. Spraying of Tergitol
on three separate nights in the spring of 1988 killed an estimated
1,672,000 birds on a 7.8-acre plot. GE eventually removed the pine
trees.
            In the past, roosts have plagued residents of Green Meadows,
Cardinal Hills, Southern Hills, Indian Hills and Somerside Acres
subdivisions. Propane-powered cannons were used in most cases to move
the roosts in these neighborhoods.

            Story created Friday, January 31, 2003 at 11:33 AM.


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