County To Use Explosives On Pesky Starlings

Franklin County is hoping explosives will work where air horns haven’t.

County commissioners have approved paying $465 to rid several blue spruces outside the courthouse of roosting starlings. Thousands have flocked to the trees, circling the courthouse in flocks and leaving their droppings on cars in the nearby parking lot.

Planning Director Richard German had thought he could do the job with an air horn. His plan was to dress county janitors in rain suits, have them stand under the trees once in the morning and once at night and blast the birds with air horns for 15 minutes.

German even took up the task himself, but without much success.

“They just leaned over and looked at me and thought I was great entertainment,” he said.

Now the county is bringing in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has made quite a job of following the birds around the Tri-Cities.

First, it was poisoned French fries that killed thousands at Boise Cascade and Simplot Feeders. Then, the department fired propane-powered cannons that sounded a loud boom at a flock roosting on the blue bridge.

In Franklin County, the department will use “bird bangers,” small explosives fired from a gun, to startle the flock. Recordings of wounded birds also may be used to keep the flock away. The measures, which will continue for five days, are not yet scheduled.