Sunnyvale Turns to Lasers and Boomboxes to Curb the Rising Population of Crows

Crows usually descend on Sunnyvale, California, every evening, cawing noisily and flying over the heads of residents. The swarm of over a thousand crows is causing a nuisance in Sunnyvale, but the city is now turning to laser pointers and boomboxes to curb its rising population.

The Crow-infested City

Laser pointers and boomboxes will be used to scare the birds away from the city's downtown area, where inhabitants wish to enjoy al fresco dining and strolls without having to converse over the birds' calls or avoid their feces.

With urban roosts growing rapidly in recent years, town officials are scrambling to find a way to get rid of or relocate the birds, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

Thousands of crows flock to Sunnyvale, California, every night. These days, a growing number of roosting birds can be found in the downtown area of Silicon Valley, cawing their way through the night and leaving their droppings in their wake.

Citizens have been complaining about crows since 2019 when Vice-Mayor Alysa Cisneros first began her campaign for office. When it comes to complaints she receives on a regular basis, crows are a major issue, immediately after speeding drivers, she said.

They're quite terrifying, says homeowner Katelin Parkos to NBC Bay Area's Damian Trujillo. There are 1,000 crows in Sunnyvale, and the Mercury News' Grace Hase reports that locals are fed up with them defecating, squawking, dive-bombing, and foraging through rubbish all over the city.

Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein tells Alyssa Lukpat that the streets are basically littered with crow crap.

Efforts to Scare the Crows Away

Per the Mercury News, crow abatement will begin in Sunnyvale later this month. Employees will use green lasers and a boombox to broadcast corvid distress calls for one hour every night to scare them away. According to CBS News' Kiet Do, lasers will be distributed to residents and business owners.

This plan has attracted some opposition from the city. In an interview with NBC Bay Area, Matthew Dodder, a member of the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, explains that lasers can blind the birds, which is a death sentence. According to the Humane Society of the United States, using lasers to scare away crows is a humane method.

Dispersal measures such as reflectors and falconry had already been tried by the city, but they were only successful in the daylight. Crows are extremely intelligent, with some being capable of making and using tools, solving puzzles, and even recognizing human faces.

A combination of pyrotechnics, lasers, recorded crow distress sounds, and effigies of dead crows, such as false Halloween decorations, can be used to disperse big roosts, according to the Humane Society.

What Could Have Led to the Rising Population of Crows?

Because crows from colder places migrate south, the number of crows in some areas increases throughout the winter months. Spring is the time of year when the birds return to their breeding grounds.

Crows are a problem in many cities, not just Sunnyvale. In 2021, the winter roost in Rochester, New York, contained between 20,000 and 30,000 crows. According to WXXI News, the city utilizes flashing lights and bird sounds to keep birds from flocking together.

Crows in Rochester, Minnesota have been subjected to the same type of treatment. Even while they can be a nuisance, crows, according to the Times, do not represent a health danger to nearby residents.

Sunnyvale's deputy mayor canvassed Twitter to see if a crow-themed celebration would be well-received in the event that their efforts fail. Eighty-seven percent of the survey's 452 participants said they planned to attend.

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