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RSS Feed Blog05. 02. 12. - 13:00
Demand for Action Over Crow Plague
Austria is again debating stepping up the war on crows and rooks that flock in their tens of thousands to cities like Vienna and Salzburg to spend the winter.
The birds are scavengers by nature, which is why they tend to frequent sites inhabited by humans in order to feed on their household waste. As a result they have become highly skilled at adapting to the country's urban environments, increasing debate on what to do about the new city dwellers.
I can see the arguments for both the green camp and the tourism, local resident camps.
Many in Vienna believe the birds have flown in from Russia but the reality is that they move into the cities from outlying rural areas where they can more easily scavenge for food and get warmth.
In Vienna overnight the skies sometimes turn black as thousands upon thousands of the birds fly overhead - circling and calling to one another with frequent "Krahs" that blend into a constant roar.
In the capitals 16th district, where I live, they are more frequent than leaves on trees at night, when its really cold some flat roofs are completely covered in black feathered birds as they huddle together for warmth.
When settled in a tree they are silent - many a car owner in my district has failed to see the warning signs of droppings under a popular crow tree - and returned the next day to find it covered in mess.
As a dog walker they provide endless entertainment, gathering walnuts in autumn and dropping them on tile roofs to get at the nuts inside. An Austrian friend in the 14th district estimates he has to replace about three or four tiles a year.
Just lately though the local crows sit by the crossing on the 14th distict where I work at an office on the Hadikgasse. They drop the nuts onto the road then wait until the cars crush them - the traffic light changes and they can fly down to hoover up the crumbs in peace.
It must be a popular spot - they frequently dive down to pester dogs, joggers and other birds even in winter away. In the nesting season in Spring they become if anything worse.
A site worth seeing every day is the old lady that used to feed the pigeons - that would wait by the pedestrian bridge for her to arrive. Nowadays the crows wait for her outside her front door - following her in a cloud all the way to the bridge as she scatters food and then they chase off the pigeons at the bridge to get the food intended for them. The pigeon numbers have fallen dramatically as the crow numbers have increased.
Farmers in Salzburg though at the agricultural chamber say the numbers have become intolerable.
They want a change in the law that will mean that as well as controlled shooting of set numbers in proven nuisance spots, they can also capture them alive.
Chamber president Franz Essl said: "They break into grain silos and steal seed, and rip up young plants and buds. They are also decimating local animal populations, particularly in attacking other birds."
Essel added: "They can't be shot in urban areas and we need to be able to trap them there."
Options after the birds are caught include humane killing, or release in another area.
Until now however farmers representative Sepp Eisl OeVP has refused to comment on the farmer demands.
Austrian Times
Tag cloud:
warmth crows Essl pigeons urban bridge 14th nuts Farmers covered resident tile scavengers Vienna numbers birds chamber food popular trees
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