COMING HOME TO ROOST

Dept. of Agriculture Goes to War With 10,500 Crows Roosting in One City

A federal team plans to use bottle rockets, lasers, spotlights and even audio recordings of crows in distress to prevent them from staying put.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has deployed federal wildlife biologists in a desperate bid to thwart some 10,500 crows from roosting in Troy, New York. The federal team is slated to operate for five nights this week, using bottle rockets, lasers, spotlights and even audio recordings of crows in distress to convince the birds that the upstate city is not their home. The presence of the massive flock has spurred health concerns, but local residents are also reportedly plagued with record levels of bird droppings on their homes and cars and are enduring endless cawing in city neighborhoods, according to the Times Union. “There are many areas along the Hudson River and outside the city of Troy where they can roost,” said USDA District Supervisor Ken Preusser, who is overseeing the herding effort. According to Preusser, it’s been a decade since the 51,500 resident city has requested a crow removal—but the practice is pretty popular elsewhere, including Albany, which gets the treatment once a year.