Unwanted company (Kentucky)

[Donna]

Dr. David Hinson, pastor of First Baptist Church-St. Clair Street, used to have the only home in the 600 block of Capital Avenue near the Capitol.

But the last few years he’s had plenty of unwanted company – several hundred vultures roosting in the tops of the tall trees.

Hinson’s house faces the flowerbeds in the median leading to the Capitol, between Todd and State streets.

“One consequence we had last year, we normally have our church Easter egg hunt here,� Hinson says. “We had to cancel it here because of the bird droppings.

“We were told it wouldn’t be safe to have Easter eggs under those trees. There’s an offensive odor from the birds.

“For the community and for people who walk their dogs as well as children who play in that area, it would certainly be better for the vultures not to be there.�

Jane Purcell, a retired chemist from the state crime lab who used to run and walk by the Capitol, agrees.

She says it stinks, especially when the temperature rises.

“It takes your breath away,� Purcell says. “It’s disgusting, the odor. I don’t even bother going by there anymore. They’re destroying the pine trees as well.�

Purcell says she recently sent an e-mail to the governor’s office regarding the vultures, saying it was bad for tourism. But she said Tuesday she hasn’t received a reply.

“I understand the vultures do a public service, and I know they have to live somewhere,� Purcell says. “But that flowerbed area of the Capitol is not a good residence for them.�

Hinson says the vultures are roosting in trees owned by the state.

“My feeling is the state needs to take whatever action is necessary to protect the property,� Hinson says.

He says he’s called the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services office in Louisville and was told pyrotechnics – fireworks – are about the only thing that can get them to move.

“I would want to call the governor and get permission before doing that,� Hinson says. “I don’t want to set those off by myself.�

Keith Stucker, district supervisor for USDA’s Wildlife Services, said vultures, like geese and ducks, are federally protected. He recommended using loud fireworks for about an hour in the early evening as the vultures are coming in to roost.

Stucker said it should be done 7 days a week, regardless of the weather, and it could take a few weeks.

He said it’s important to inform the public as to what’s going on.

“You want to get everybody on board, and the more people discharging the better your event is going to be,� Stucker said.

The goal is to create an inhospitable environment, “to make a lot of noise so the vultures feel uncomfortable,� Stucker said. “Then they will go somewhere else. You have to be more persistent than the birds.�

Kendra Palmer, environmental director for the Franklin County Health Department, said Tuesday she received one complaint in the last month about vulture droppings on the sidewalk near the Capitol.

She referred the complaint to state facilities management because it’s on state grounds.

Palmer says she’s worked at the local health department for almost 19 years and “this is the first vulture species complaint I’ve received.�

Joy Jeffries, executive director of the Frankfort Tourist Commission, said today her office hasn’t received any complaints.

Bird expert Brainard Palmer-Ball Jr., a longtime zoologist with the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission, used to do an annual count of vultures in Frankfort.

But he retired last year and said Tuesday he hasn’t done a survey this year.

His record count was 1,100 in 2007. There were about 700 in 2006 and 2009 and about 500 in 2008.

Of the 500 counted in 2008 – most of them roosting in tall spruce and white pine trees on the lawn of the Governor’s Mansion – 300 were reddish-headed turkey vultures and 200 were darker-headed and shorter-tailed black vultures.

In 2007, the vultures, at night, were perched in trees in Montrose Park along East Main Street and the wooded slope above Warsaw Street, which runs parallel to Holmes Street.

In winter 2006, the roost was along the south side of the East-West Connector between the city’s water treatment ponds and the Kentucky River.

Vultures roost communally during the non-breeding season, Palmer-Ball says.

In Kentucky, the largest roosts are typically observed from late fall into late winter, with the roosts breaking up as soon as warm weather arrives.

Each morning the birds spread out in all directions, some as far as 10 to 15 miles, Palmer-Ball says. Then late each afternoon the birds return to the roost area, swirling around in the sky in loose groups before dropping into the trees by sunset.

“The temporary nature of the use of specific roost sites greatly diminishes any concern for diseases like histoplasmosis … and the birds are not aggressive,� Palmer-Ball said. “They would not bother pets or humans.

“They eat carrion, which most times take the form of road-killed animals, discarded carcasses, and animals that have died of natural causes.

“The black vulture is known to be more aggressive, and has been documented to kill newly-born or weak piglets and calves. But that is not the norm, especially in winter when the birds are not raising young.�

He acknowledged the huge birds can cause a bad odor and that they soil sidewalks, cars and decks with their droppings.

Cindy Lanham, spokeswoman for the Finance and Administration Cabinet, said the vultures have damaged the roofs of some buildings at the Capitol. Since the animals are federally protected, the state has ordered some ultrasonic devices to prevent further damage.

The birds follow the Kentucky River and prefer to roost on the bluffs near the Capitol, Lanham said.