Scaring birds at Preston/Royal

[texsuze]

I was at the southeast corner of Preston/Royal shopping area (Pier 1, Borders) to see if purple martins were starting to congregate in trees and utility lines as they have in years past. A man was driving around the parking lot in a little white truck with an Avian Flyaway Bird Relocation Systems sign on the door. The truck had air horn sound effects blasting every few seconds, along with what sounded like bottle rockets. I presume this is to scare off grackles, but the PMs roost in the parking lot live oaks at night. Anyone know anything about this? It was very disappointing to see/hear.

[betsy]

I didn't know there was a recurring Purple Martin pre-migration roost there! It apparently hasn't been reported to The Purple Martin Conservation Association, since it isn't on this list: http://purplemartin.org/roost/index.php?C=US&S=TX

It's entirely possible that the shopping center engaged the Bird Relocation company to scare away the martins themselves. Any of the birds that commonly roost en masse in trees bordering shopping centers (House Sparrows, Starlings, Great-tailed Grackles, Purple Martins) might be the targets -- let's presume customers have complained about bird poop on their cars, or the MacDonald's (if it's still there on that corner) or its customers is/are worried about the health hazards of concentrations of birds near an eatery with an outdoor playground for children, or there's an ignorant-of-the-facts concern about avian flu.

I agree with you that it's a disappointing sort of thing to see/hear happening. It isn't as though the Purple Martins roost there forever -- they only do it for about a month. It would be nice if the merchants/customers could find it in their hearts to give the birds sleeping space for that long without harrassing them!

What seems rather silly is making all that racket during the day! Doesn't seem as though it would deter the birds from roosting there at night. Sounds as though there's even more ignorance at work there. It would be interesting to know if this bird relocation outfit is ignorant of the appropriate timing of their efforts or if someone at the shopping center has ordered such services during the day out of their own ignorance, or what!

[EastLawther]

I went over there to take a look for myself.

The good news is that the flock of purple martins is still there and it is quite large! The bad news is that the guys were there with the cannon scaring them away.

I arrived about 8:45 pm, Friday night, just as it was getting dark. The flock was swarming and up high. There was one guy in a pickup shooting off the bottle-rocket thing and another driving around with a spot light inspecting trees for birds.

I spoke with the guy briefly, and he explained what he was doing. I told him the birds were martins, but that didn't make any difference. They still made a mess. (white bird-poop marks were everywhere) He indicated it had to do with the release party for the last Harry Potter book, at the Border's Books. It was quite a zoo, with kids in wizard hats and a British double decker bus on display, and so on. Glad to get out of there.

The bottle-rocket noise maker kept the birds stirred up and high in the air. I watched awhile. They swarmed and circled and eventually settled in trees over on the Tom Thumb (north-west) corner. The bottle-rocket guys stayed on the Border's (south-east) corner. Still quite a sight.

[betsy]

Good job, East Lawther! With your information, we can hope that the cannon/bottle rocket business was a temporary dodge and will cease now that the big promotion party is over.

[Sandy]

About 8 of us just had dinner at Cantina Laredo and around 8:15 wandered over to the Border's to see the Purple Martins and the Bird Relocation System (with a removable sign) were there with horns, lights, and also used these other horrendously loud devices called "Screaming Sirens." The police came because of the noise violation. I'm going to try to contact the property management company tomorrow (Border's told us they hired these people who appeared to be from Mexico) and find out some more facts. In the meantime, I posted the location information on the Purple Martin Conservation Organization but it might take 3-5 business days before it actually appears. Their website is: http://purplemartin.org/main/mgt.html

The roosting should continue through the first week of August at least so go enjoy them while you can and tell the Bird Relocation System folks to leave migratory birds alone. Education is a good thing and not breaking the law is a good thing, too.

[EastLawther]

Just a note. I found this article on the web about these outfits that scare purple martins and implications

Purple Martins Illegally Harassed By Shreveport Hospital and Wildlife Nuisance Company
http://www.purplemartins.com/Topics/louisiana.html

Evidently, it is illegal if one of the rockets happens to kill a bird, as these are migratory.