Are there any large night time bird roosts in central, OH?

[RC K9]

I know, it sounds like a weird question, but I am wondering if any of you know about any large night time bird roosts in Central, or heck, anywhere for that matter in OH, whereby a lot of damage is caused to property, such as buildings, sidewalks, vehicles, etc?

[Geeto67]

How big a bird are you talking? I have done some nighttime nature walks and seen plenty of owls. Hawks can sometimes hunt at night but not often (dawn/dusk is slightly more common). Both of them feed on small farm animals like rabbits and chickens.

 

the only damage I can think of is by pooping or damage to outdoor coops and pens to get at prey. Being in Texas, are you talking about Bald Eagles? because they are the assholes of the bird world and can legitimately destroy stuff (plus they hunt for sport and not just survival).

[RC K9]

I'm referring to large roosts, like hundreds to thousands of birds congregating at night in parking lots and such whereby causing lots of damage and expense for property managers/municipalities/vehicle owners.

 

Down here we have these black birds called grackles that cause tons of damage.

 

In Auburn, NY when I lived there as a kid, it was Crows. 100,000 crows in a city with a population of 35,000.

[Geeto67]

My cousins in Arkansas used to complain about the grackles, a flock of them in flight during the day could darken the sky.

 

my bad for reading it as the size of the bird and not the size of the flock.

[RC K9]

I may have worded that wrong. Sorry about that. I see now how that could have been confusing.

[xlr8tn]

a bunch of years ago we went to put in bay. We parked and rode the jet express over. 2 days later we get back to the mainland side and get to the car. The cars that were parked under the lights (thankfully we weren't) were completely covered in bird shit from the gulls. To the point you could barely tell what color they were and the windshields were completely covered in bird shit. Just up the road was a car wash with a line of cars at it....all covered. I laughed my ass off but only because it wasn't my car. Had it of been my car there would've been a return trip with a pellet gun. I'm also guessing whoever owns that car wash is a millionaire.

[ShowHBK]

Owls at night are scary AF man... I was trying to get with a girl in college who did these 2:00 AM Nature walks for owls and she would play sounds to attract them. Sure enough, these big ass owls were flying over us within a few feet... NEVER AGAIN! Our friendship did not last long >_<

[xlr8tn]

owls are cool as hell......one of the most highly specialized creatures on the planet. I had one fly into a tree next to me this season early one morning while I was bow hunting and hang out for a few minutes. Pretty cool stuff.

[BStowers023]

I remember just about a month ago or so out near the corner of McKinley and Trabue Rd there were thousands and thousands of birds just flying around and sitting on electrical lines. Not sure if they caused any damage but I had never seen anything like that before.

[mrs.cos]

Starlings are probably the closest we have in Ohio. They are known for decimating local bird population food sources but they roost up in the trees and make a metric fuck ton of noise

[aussiek2000]

Starlings and Crows have been roosting in hoards here in Zanesville. I've seen 10's of thousands of starlings at one time.

[Tractor]

Usually a huge harring rookery out near buckeye lake. Gets lots of attention from bird watchers.

[ImUrOBGYN]

We get the starlings here, too, but it's the grackles that do widespread damage and cause shitloads - I meant that literally and figuratively - of other issues.

 

Many people find it a bit Hitchcockian and unreal when they see the actual flock size of these birds here. Either way, both are considered imported pests and detrimental to native species. Do with them what you will within reason.

 

Ryan, why are you inquiring? You getting into the raptor or outdoor speaker business?

[RC K9]

I'm trying to find a viable way to get back to OH, ha ha!

 

So, I'm an apprentice falconer. My sponsor/master has a bird abatement business he does a a moonlight job. Literally. He gets contracts for bird abatement business from anything from a small gas station, to municipal contracts (he used to do the River Walk in San An).

 

So what you do is lets say a gas station has a bunch of trees where a entire flock roosts at night. They sh*t over everything. Ruining paint on cars, doing property damage and costing the property owners lots of money in cleanup costs.

 

THere are several ways to address this:

 

1.) Hire a pest control company who pays some kid $10/hr to come out with a laser pointer. Problem is, birds quickly learn the red dot doesn't pose any danger, so the roost returns/stays.

 

2.) If it's in the winter, municipalities will sometimes release airborne chemicals that strip the oil off bird feathers, causing the birds to freeze to death. This is bad because it kills thousands of birds all at once, and also takes out indigenous/desirable species as collateral damage.

 

3.) Falconry. You hit a roost 2-3 nights in a row and the raptor gets a bird each night, the roost quickly learns there is real danger here, and they need to find a new place to roost. Obviously I like this option the best because the field of falconry interests me, but I also think its the best solution because it's more long-term than some of the other methods used, causes less collateral damage than some other methods, and it's using nature to do what nature does.

 

If there was significant business in OH, and my sponsor was able to secure enough business, I could fly the roosts for him, giving me a good reason to visit OH more often.

[Drewhop]

 

3.) Falconry. You hit a roost 2-3 nights in a row and the raptor gets a bird each night, the roost quickly learns there is real danger here, and they need to find a new place to roost. Obviously I like this option the best because the field of falconry interests me, but I also think its the best solution because it's more long-term than some of the other methods used, causes less collateral damage than some other methods, and it's using nature to do what nature does.

 

 

Had a great horned owl when I was a kid basically do that to a wild cat population in area around our house. (Cats are dropped off in the area all the time was not our fault)

[RC K9]

Had a great horned owl when I was a kid basically do that to a wild cat population in area around our house. (Cats are dropped off in the area all the time was not our fault)

 

Owls are excellent killers, the only problem on the bird abatement side is they are so quiet when they strike, most of the rest of the flock doesn't know what happened, so it isn't great at moving roosts. A hawk on the other hand makes it a noisy affair, so when a grackle gets nailed, the whole roost knows what happened.

[Avenger1647545502]

There is a huge crow rookery near 315 and Bethel. Literally several thousand of them. Enough that I claim to have survived a massed murder.

[RC K9]

There is a huge crow rookery near 315 and Bethel. Literally several thousand of them. Enough that I claim to have survived a massed murder.

 

Ha ha. I see what you did there.

[BloodRed]

There seems to be a decent business getting rid of Canadian Geese around Central Ohio. I work in Dublin and with all the man made lakes around business and houses, Canadian Geese are always an issue. Last place I worked, hired a guy in the spring that would use his dog to chase the geese a couple times a week before they started nesting. Never seen a happier dog before.

[zeitgeist57]

We've got a murder of crows around my house (OSU area). They are a pain but don't do much damage aside from poop. Will be interesting to see what happens with flora/fauna around here this spring, with the winter as mild as it's been.

 

Starlings/grackles are nasty, NASTY birds.

[RC K9]

We've got a murder of crows around my house (OSU area). They are a pain but don't do much damage aside from poop. Will be interesting to see what happens with flora/fauna around here this spring, with the winter as mild as it's been.

 

Starlings/grackles are nasty, NASTY birds.

 

Yeah, bird poop everywhere is disgusting. They case a lot of damage around here. I found a roost the other night and am going to follow up on some leads on other roosts in the area.

 

One guy told me, "You are doing God's work." Ha ha He said the bird crap is like and inch thick where they roost and it gets all over everything. I'll be following up on his lead as he said they appear right about 6-7pm, which sounds about right for a roost as it's dark then, so it's too late for out-staging.

[RC K9]

This is what i'm looking for:

 

[Gergwheel1647545492]

you talking about something like this?

http://i.imgur.com/tnXL6wK.gifv

[RC K9]

you talking about something like this?

http://i.imgur.com/tnXL6wK.gifv

 

Heck yeah. Now that would be an interesting flock to "relocate."