Buzzards roosting where they are not welcomed is a problem here at Wintergreen and in much of Virginia. WBB subscriber Clint Cox reported some success with flashing bright lights in Stoney Creek, which ended up pointing to other ideas.
“We found out that they do not like bright lights pointed at them after dark. This might make them just uncomfortable enough to encourage them to relocate,” Cox said in an email. “We emptied a large poplar tree from across the fairway in Stoney Creek with just a couple of hand-held flashlights. Maybe some motion sensors and brighter lights could push them away from unwanted areas?”
“The posture of the prepared bird should resemble that of a dead bird hung by its feet with one or both wings hanging down in an outstretched manner.”
There is very likely something to that. Lasers have been used to discourage birds away from where they are not wanted. In the new book Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, writer Mary Roach reports how Andre Frijters and his LaserOP Automatic 200 was deployed at the Vatican to dissuade gulls from messing with mass.
Lasers and lights are troublesome and expensive. The good news is effigies work well on buzzards.
“We don’t know, but if I went into a neighborhood and saw a person hanging upside down from a tree, I’d leave, too.”
An effigy is a “full or partial representation..., of a person or object,” explains John S. Humphrey, Eric A. Tillman, and Michael L. Avery, all with the USDA-APHIS-Wildlife Services-National Wildlife Research Center, Florida Field Station.
“An effective vulture effigy for dispersing vultures at roost sites can be a fresh vulture carcass, a taxidermic preparation, or an artificial likeness.,” they reported in their four-page May 2021 paper Using Effigies to Disperse Nuisance Vulture Roosts.
Effigies are effective only if they are installed correctly. The author of Fuzz quotes the USDA paper: “The posture of the prepared bird should resemble that of a dead bird hung by its feet with one or both wings hanging down in an outstretched manner.”
Where to get an effigy? Amazon.com offers one for sale with a 3.5-star rating.
“There is no rational, non-voodooey explanation for why it works,” says Roach, who quotes USDA’s Avery as saying, “We don’t know, but if I went into a neighborhood and saw a person hanging upside down from a tree, I’d leave, too.”
While buzzards provide a real service in their work as scavengers, too many in one place can be a serious problem.
“The birds’ feces and vomit can accumulate, especially on roofs of houses, office buildings, communication towers, and electrical transmission structures,” explains the 2019 USDA factsheet Managing Vulture Damage.
“They damage homes and commercial buildings by tearing window caulking, roof shingles, vent seals, rubber roof liners, and pool covers. They can damage vehicles by scratching paint, removing rubber seals and wipers, and ripping vinyl seat covers from boats and tractors.”
-Charles Batchelor for the Wintergreen Bulletin Board
