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Letter to the editor

Don't mess with these messy migrators

By CRISTINA SILVA
Published June 24, 2007

Their nighttime calls are said to sound like the horrifying screams in a teen slasher film. They unwittingly leave regurgitated food as well as plops of fecal matter on everything from cars, outdoor grills and even the occasional grossed-out passer-by.

Yellow-crowned night herons are attractive, with bright feathers and small red eyes, but in the well-to-do enclave of Riviera Bay, the birds were seen as little more than an unwelcome visitor until last year.

To get rid of the annoying birds, a few homeowners used their water hoses to flush them out of their nests, while some others threw lighted firecrackers at the hatchlings.

A handful of residents went as far as taking down the trees around their properties so the birds would have no place to nest.

But a year after an education campaign on the benefits of respecting the migratory birds, Riviera Bay residents have mostly come to peace with their visiting neighbors. When the birds returned to nest this winter, there were no known attacks against them, residents said.

The successful bird education effort, accomplished in part by the St. Petersburg Audubon Society and a local activist, illustrates a compromise between urbanites and nature rarely accomplished in such short time, environmentalists said.

Lorraine Margeson, an Audubon Society member, was helping count the yellow-crowned night herons in Riviera Bay three years ago when she heard that some residents were going after the birds.

"Most people were like, 'They are so disgusting, we wish they would just go away, ' " she said.

Riviera Bay has the largest colony of yellow-crowned night herons in St. Petersburg, Margeson said.

The birds are also known to nest in the Historic Old Northeast neighborhood.

The Audubon Society produced fliers explaining the bird's mating style and common attributes. Margeson and others passed the fliers out last year.

The herons like to nest in tall trees near bodies of water, the fliers explained. The herons eat crabs and then feed the meat to their chicks. As they dine, shells, chewed up food and fecal matter can fall to the ground.

Instead of getting angry at nature's way, Margeson encouraged residents to regard the droppings as free fertilizer.

Riviera Bay resident Mark O'Brien said the herons have been there since he first moved into the neighborhood 14 years ago.

Despite the loud, nighttime call of the herons, O'Brien said he has come to appreciate them, in part because of the education campaign.

"You just tune out the bad, " he said. "We kind of have become protective of them."

David Hoover, president of the Riviera Bay Civic Association, said he bought his house on the water because he wanted a front-row seat to the wildlife and diversity of birds the neighborhood offered.

He loves the herons, but, still, he asks his neighbors not to feed the birds.

"We like them around, but anything in excessive numbers is bothersome, " he said.

Cristina Silva can be reached at 727 893-8846 or csilva@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 23, 2007, 23:43:51]