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Vultures forecast: clearing up
By ALEX LEARY, Times Staff Writer
CRYSTAL RIVER -- The view from Harry Pierce's office is clear at last. It has been days since he has seen vultures on the television antenna across the canal, or lining the rooftop just beyond that. After anguishing over the brazen black birds for several weeks, losing a pool screen at his Woodland Estates home along the way, Pierce is cautiously hopeful the struggle may be easing. Last week, wildlife officials hung two vulture carcasses from trees in the state preserve abutting the subdivision in an attempt to deter other buzzards from menacing the neighborhood. "I'm still a little skeptical, not 100 percent, but it seems to be working," said Pierce, 60, a retired Army colonel. "Every day I have a little more confidence." Pierce said the vultures began to disappear from some of their favorite morning perches, including his pool cover, two days after the carcasses were strung up Nov. 26. The birds were provided by Michael Avery, a biologist with the National Wildlife Research Center field office in Gainesville. The task was planned for early this month, but given the concern, Avery hastened his response. By stepping in with a couple of frozen birds from his lab, Avery helped mitigate a controversy over shooting some of the Woodland Estates vultures. A resident, Mindy Hastings, obtained a federal permit to shoot 15 vultures after efforts to drive the birds away with noisemakers and roof spikes did not work. But she ran into trouble because the use of firearms, unless in life-threatening situations, is banned by a city ordinance. The City Council directed the police department to shoot the birds, but the idea did not sit well with Chief Jim Farley, who was worried about public safety. Few dispute there is a problem. After roosting in the state land at night, the vultures find a place to warm up in the morning, waiting for thermal patterns to develop. From rooftops, boats and docks, they pick at anything in sight. They leave behind feces and hundreds of dollars of damage. Pierce says a new pool cover will cost $1,100. But for as comfortable with death as they are, vultures seem to be scared off by the sight of their dead relatives hanging upside down. "The birds are very inquisitive, they sit in a tree and look at it, fly around it," Avery said Wednesday. "They seem to satisfy themselves that it's something they don't want to be around." In Woodland Estates, the vultures still circle above but are not roosting as much in the trees at night -- or damaging property in the morning -- residents said. "It seems to have been quite effective," Hastings said. "For how long, I don't know. But I'm quite happy with the results so far." Her neighbor thinks factors other than the dead birds are at work. "They went south because of the cold snap," Paul Sasada said. "I guarantee you they will be back."
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