Protecting Protected Birds from Pest Birds

I titled this article "Protecting Protected Birds from Pest Birds." This is a subject that I am very passionate about and wanted to share some thoughts about how we can lend a hand to at least slow the decline of some smaller, vulnerable protected bird species. It’s fair to say that most people love birds. However, many people also mistakenly love all birds the same because they don’t understand the difference between a protected bird and a pest bird.

 

Writing this article for PCT magazine’s readers is easy because we understand the difference. That is why this is not necessarily written to educate you on this subject. It’s written to show you why and how we need to educate everyone else on this subject. We can go in a lot of different directions with this subject, but I want to focus on one pest bird in particular: the house sparrow. Here is where people in our industry can make a difference.  

 

Without getting into the weeds, most birds are very protected, some are slightly protected and a few and not protected at all. The ones that are not protected including the house sparrow are primarily considered pest birds. Some of the protected birds are migratory, others are indigenous, and several can be both migratory and a pest like the Canada goose for example. My other focus is on protecting the smaller songbirds that the invasive house sparrow displaces by its behavior with a little help from people who don’t understand the difference between protected and pest birds.  

 

So, who is everyone else we need to educate on this subject. I see them as an onion that needs to get peeled to reveal the deeper (more difficult to educate) layers.  

 

You and I (Pest Control Operators) are the outer most layer. We not only understand the difference between a protected and non-protected bird, we also understand the difference between one that is a pest and not a pest. We can even include regulators and biologists that work for the federal or state government in this layer.  It’s their job to know these differences and to protect the ones that most need protecting, even if it’s from other birds.

 

The first layer of people we need to educate is our Client Contact. The person you, the PCO deals with on a regular basis when performing services at a client location that may have pest bird challenges. Maybe at a grocery store or food warehouse for example. This person next best understands the need for bird control services because they are the one that must directly deal with the risks surrounding pest bird activities at their location.  

 

 For the purposes of our exercise, the General Public is the people that work, shop or otherwise are at the location you are working to resolve a pest bird challenge.  There are three types of people in this layer; the ones that mind their own business, the ones that ask you questions about what you are doing and what’s going to happen to the birds and then the ones that already know what you are doing (in their minds) and get a little saucy with you about it.  You can educate all three types by simply being discreet and humane.  The two that engage you can be further educated with your knowledge and empathy.  You can fake knowledge, but not empathy.  You need to seriously understand and believe that what you are doing is to protect public health, your client’s business interests and especially birds.  All birds, even the ones that are the target of your services.

 

Our next onion layer is Public Bird Feeders, people that purposefully and regularly feed birds (and other wildlife) in public places.  If the road to hell were paved with good intentions, Public Bird Feeders would be driving the asphalt machine.  They only believe in the reality that they are helping the birds and other animals they feed without understanding the unintended consequences of their actions oftentimes against the very birds they are trying to “help.”  Some of them can be educated, but your approach needs to be very gentle, or the encounter can quickly escalate to a confrontation.  The closer one person’s onion layer is to another’s, the easier it is for that person to educate the other.  In other words, it will be easier for someone from the general public layer to educate a Public Bird Feeder, than for you to do it.  

 

Special Interest Groups is the layer of organizations and people that protect animal welfare. Surprisingly, I’ve ran into some that I would consider to be way out in the PCO layer. They’ve even hired me to professionally address challenges with invasive bird species that are threatening indigenous bird species. But I digress, this layer is about the people that work or volunteer for these organizations and subscribe to a “group think” mentality that all birds need protecting. They can be educated, but it will be difficult, because they already are “educated” but in their own belief system. In all fairness, our interests do (and should) align when we are talking about protecting all animals against cruelty. This is where we MUST be humane, moral, and ethical in the way we perform our services. The best way we can educate this layer is with our actions, individually and as an industry.  

 

Extremists are literally at the heart of our trip from the outer rims of the onion.  This layer is for people who in their “heart” passionately believe that we are the Devil and that killing any animal (especially a bird) is a mortal sin.  I would bet that someone in this layer would consider someone in our outer layer to be the extremist.  It is impossible for us to educate someone who resides in this layer, but it is possible for them to move themselves out of this layer.  What I mean is that they can be “educated” by someone in a closer layer to them.

 

Before we get too far along in this section, let me clarify that I do not pretend to protect any bird from other birds that prey on them in their natural habitats.  Cats is a whole other rabbit hole, but we won’t go there with this article.  It is natural for a bird of prey to hunt and eat any bird.  Both birds are in their natural environment doing what comes naturally.  My focus is to protect vulnerable birds that are in their natural environment from birds that are not native and are being aided by uneducated albeit well intentioned people.  

 

The house sparrow aka English Sparrow (Passer domesticus) is the number one pest bird we encounter in and around our client locations that can have the greatest negative impact on similar sized protected birds.  The house sparrow is native to the “old” world and was introduced to our side of “the pond” during the colonization of America.  Its name comes from its behavior to live with people (in our house), you can even say it’s commensal like rodents.  A major biological advantage is that they have a slightly larger beak than other birds of their relative size, and use it as a “tool” to bully protected birds out of their nests by pecking at the adults and eggs.  It is a major displacer of protected songbirds in urban settings and a major contributor to their decline in these locations.  

 

Additionally, they are extremely prolific with an annual potential of 28 offspring from one mating pair since they can hatch four broods of up to seven chicks every year (weather permitting) and can live up to three years in the wild.  Finally, once they spend a few days or weeks inside a building where they are safe from predators, find food and what little water they need, they become entrenched.  They and their many offspring will spend their entire lives inside these locations, each dropping a couple hundred poop bombs daily. 

 

It's easy for us as business people to succumb to the PC pressure of releasing these birds when caught inside a client’s location, but we must come to terms with the unintended consequences of these actions.  These birds are extremely smart, and now they now know two more things.  How to get inside a client’s vulnerable location and how not to get caught.  But discreetly and humanely euthanizing these birds when caught in a mist net or a trap is not enough.  It is imperative that we share these attributes described above with our clients, the general public and anyone who will listen.  

 

Look, I get it…  I don’t think this is something the Federal government will use its vast Ad Council resources to educate the general public like they did with Smokey the Bear and forest fires, but it should be important enough for us as an industry to do what we can.  We can continue down the road of least resistance and allow protected songbird populations to decline, or we can do something that is within our power.  House sparrows are afforded no protection by Federal or State laws and even the majority of municipal “bird sanctuary” ordinances allow exceptions for birds that are causing health risks.  

 

Some people may think of me as a house sparrow hater, and maybe I am, but not at the expense of loving the protected, colorful songbirds that are being decimated by this bully of a little bird.