Tuesday 1 April 2014

[cobirds] Fort Collins Turkey Vulture roost (Larimer)

As many of you know, there is a historical Turkey Vulture roost in Fort Collins (Larimer) on Mountain Avenue at the nw part of its intersection with Washington.  For reference, this is about a mile east of the entrance to Grandview Cemetery and exactly two blocks east of Shields Street.  This roost has been there many years but I do not know the exact number.  Most summer mornings when the temps begin to warm, these birds head out in search of roadkill and other casualties of wild life.  From my many visits to the cemetery, most days I'd say they head west toward Horsetooth Res, Rist and Poudre Canyons, or Red Feather Lakes.  Return is usually sometime between 5 and 7pm.  Dr. Alex Cringan, a wildlife prof at CSU and one of the major supporters of Breeding Bird Atlas 1, kept track of this roost.  Sadly, dear Dr. Cringan passed away within the last year.  If anyone knows the whereabouts of his data for this vulture roost, please let Georgia or me know.  Thanks. 

At any rate, over 100 birds have occupied this roost in certain summers.  Recently they have focused on 6 large spruce trees.  Four of these overtopped the front part of a vacant lot and two were very nearby on City right-of-way between sidewalk and curb.  Several dozen TVs doing what they do to cope and process their lifestyle is not pleasant if you are underneath those results.  No doubt mostly because the roost centered on a vacant lot, the neighborhood tolerated the big black birds with bare heads that for some reason picked them.  They even raked and disposed of the feathery mess from time to time.  On bad days the stench had to be considerable.  I don't know all the conflicts and heated discussions that probably occurred between neighbors with differing views, or between them and the various authorities who were no doubt contacted.  But to the collective credit of the neighborhood, the vultures have been allowed to persist.  In this rare case, ecological services prevailed over other much more common, valid, urban values.  But like I said, it was a vacant lot and nobody was directly underneath the death squad. 

Last year or perhaps late in 2012, the lot went on the market.  It was underpriced, no doubt because of the vultures, and snapped up.  The couple who bought it talked to some of us about vultures and you could see what was coming.  The purchasers wanted to do some building and vultures didn't fit that scenario.  The four private spruce were cut.  The City refused to cut their two. 

So, while the vultures were away, 2/3's of their historical roost was removed.  What would the returners do?  What could they do?  Option 1: size things up, totally abandon the site, and relocate.  Option 2: all pile into the 2 City trees and diss each other even more than they historically had done.  Option 3: utilize the 2 City trees to a normal density and the spillover birds expand into new nearby trees.  Option 4: utilize the 2 City trees and the spillover birds totally relocate.  I received a report from Georgia Doyle, a professional biologist, who many of you know and who lives a few blocks away, that 5 birds showed up in the two City trees last week on March 24th.  So far, the main group has not shown up.  I saw 8 birds in the 2 City trees today.  The birds have options for expansion if they need more spruce to accommodate the total number of arrivals.  There are 3 spruce growing together on the Mountain Street trolley median just to the west.  And there are scattered, even better spruce on several lots with old homes in all cardinal directions.  The tension is high for folks who own those trees.  While they may have tolerated the vacant lot scavengers, as we all know, and in this case I'd say quite understandably, "in my backyard" for something like this usually generates a different reaction.

One of the potential new inheritors of roosting vultures is a couple who are friends of mine.  They will remain nameless in the spirit of witness protection.  The man, let's call him "Buzz", does what we all do nowadays when we don't know an answer - he did an internet search for "vulture repellants" (or was it "vulture deterrants"?).  Sorting thru the 4,268,712 matches, he came to the conclusion his best tried and true option was a top-of-the-line $150 vulture effigy.  If properly hung by one foot high in the area one does not want vultures to sit for a second, its maker (a company ("All About Props") in Tucker, Georgia that creates odd items for movie sets) guaranteed success and congratulated Buzz on being the first owner of this product in Colorado.  After additional fees of $15 shipping and $40 to a professional tree climber for installation, the Centennial State's inaugural 18-inch TV effigy swings in the breeze, macabre as all getout, about 50 up in a large blue spruce one block to the northwest.   You won't see this very realistic rubber or resin likeness, complete with "real feathers" (Model PPT268 has an estimated 3-year field life, IF taken down and stored properly over winter), unless you know exactly where to look.  Buzz wants vultures to see it from their typical tree crown vantage, but not neighbors who might be victims of the roost expansion and somehow blame him, regardless of his ingenuity, initiative, and financial sacrifice.  As with most true reality shows, I "get" almost all the possible points of view.

This is awesome.  A classic urban wildlife conflict involving government, private citizens, new techniques, site fidelity, migrant non-breeding and/or teenage birds learning life skills such as which peers to hang out with (live and upright is better than dead-looking and dangling), etc.  One can feel the tension, knowing dozens of new birds could show up any day.   Fort Collins' nickname is "The Choice City".  This surely seems to be about choices - those of both birds and people.  I will try to remember to post an update in the next couple months.

I bring this up not to incite any controversy.  Please.  To my knowledge nobody has done anything illegal.  The scene is set.  It's interesting.  In a way that's respectful to the neighborhood living with it all, let's just see what happens.

Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins

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