FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] Re: BKY:Blackbird phobia

["Mark Bennett" <benn5609@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Maybe they should reply that "blackbirds" have almost certainly increased
dramatically in response to environmental degredation by
"mankind/womankind".

It seems to me, however, that the most logical reply would be that since no
one knows where the roost is; it is obviously not a threat to Somerset.


Mark Bennett
113 Iroquois Circle
Russellville, KY  42276
Logan County
benn5609@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

----- Original Message -----
From: <Brainard.Palmer-Ball@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2003 6:02 PM
Subject: [birdky] Re: BKY:Blackbird phobia


>
> Roseanna and some of her tree-huggin' cohorts down there should reply that
> the birds were there first!
>
> bpb, Louisville
> brainard.palmer-ball@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Roseanna [mailto:roseanna@xxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2003 6:53 PM
> To: BirdKY
> Subject: [birdky] BKY:Blackbird phobia
>
>
>
> 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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with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject line.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
Visit the Kentucky Ornithological Society
web site at http://www.biology.eku.edu/kos.htm
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
BIRDKY List Manager: Gary Ritchison, Richmond, KY
E-mail: gary.ritchison@xxxxxxx