News From Terre Haute, Indiana

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Related Photos

  • Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis Auto owl: A motorized owl is one of the deterrents used by UAP Clinic to discourage crows from roosting on the roofs of their downtown buildings.

    MET020312crows owl.jpg

  • Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis Audio deterrent: UAP Clinic facilities manager Jack Robinson shows the loudspeaker that emits crow chick distress calls at intervals, intended to keep crows from roosting on the roof of the buildings along Walnut street.

    MET020312crows robinson.jpg

  • Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis Line of sight: Fishing line has long been used to discourage birds such as geese and seagulls from using certain areas. Here Jack Robinson, facilities manager for UAP Clinic, shows the bright green line set up in a crisscross pattern on the roof of the downtown clinic.

    MET020312crows line.jpg

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February 5, 2012

Bird patrol would love to crow about its new line of attack

Howard Greninger The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — Simple fishing line is the latest attempt Terre Haute’s Crow Committee is using to discourage the troublesome birds from landing on downtown buildings — joining a fake owl perched on a rooftop cooling unit, small speakers that play the sounds of a bird in distress and fireworks.

Joy Sacopulos, a member of the Terre Haute Crow Committee and the Crow Patrol, said the committee got an email tip from a person in Sarasota, Fla., about using fishing line to form large “X’s” atop buildings. UAP Clinic began using the idea on its buildings on Tuesday.

“We are trying everything,” Sacopulos said. “The birds can see well enough that the fishing line looks like a snare or net or trap of some kind. So that is the newest thing to try and we are waiting to see what happens. We had been looking for some place with a flat roof where it could be tried,” Sacopulos added.

Jack Robinson, facilities manager for UAP Clinic, 221 S. Sixth St., is the one trying it.

“We are using reflective fishing line as we were told it would catch the birds’ attention, on the roof of the main clinic and the eye center,” said. Green-colored fishing line is stretched to form big X’s on the roofs.

“We may also try the fishing line in two or three trees,” Robinson said. “Right now, the weather has been warm enough that the crows have not come here, so we don’t know if it is even working or not.”

Robinson has been battling roosting crows for the past four years. The first two years he often stood on top of a clinic roof, firing a device that sounds like a shotgun or firing small fireworks. But Robinson has been trying to find an alternative method, one which does not require standing on the roof all night.

While the Terre Haute Crow Patrol has been shooting noise-making shells each evening, which has moved the birds from the downtown, the crows are starting to return later in the evening, often after 8 p.m. when patrol volunteers are long gone, Sacopulos said.

“We had been told that once the crows find a place for the evening they stay there, and we have found that is not true,” she said.

To combat the mid-evening return of the crows, Sacopulos has given a downtown law firm and a church fireworks for use later in the night. “It is our evening backup project,” she said.

People using fireworks at later hours are told to first call the Terre Haute Police Department before any fireworks are set off and also are asked to follow safety tips provided. In addition, they are asked to fill out a form each evening stating the reaction of the crows, estimated number of crows, date and time fireworks were set off, and name of person handling the pyrotechnics.

Kal Ellis of the Ellis Law firm, at 417 Wabash Ave., said adjacent roofs around his business are often covered with bird droppings, as are walk-in entrances around his business.

“The crows are unpredictable. I probably get a car wash daily or every few days because it is constantly bird droppings,” Ellis said. “There is clearly a problem. The crows do come back and [the Crow Committee] has an effort out to have people out at different hours.”

“Joy [Sacopulos] brought me a box of [fireworks], and if I run out, I will go out and get some more myself,” he said.

Ellis said he would participate as he often works later hours. In addition, he said a relative will set off fireworks either late in the evening or early morning — another way of mixing up times when the crows would get spooked by noisemakers.

Sacopulos said she also has given St. Joseph’s University Parish, 113 S. Fifth St., some fireworks that can be used later in the evening. The parish has a person who has used wooden planks, slapped together, to make noise to move crows away from the church in the evenings.

“The crows make such a mess here, but in the past week or so we have not had too many,” said church secretary Diane Galinaitis. “But, if they weren’t coming back at night, the birds appear to be using us as a staging area to fly out in the morning, so we are having that issue, too.”

Sacopulous said efforts will continue for the Crow Patrol through late March. Last year, the patrol volunteers counted 100,000 crows, Sacopulous said.

Anyone seeking to be a volunteer on the Crow Patrol should call the city’s crow hotline at (812) 244-2709.

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