News

Detroit Airport Wasting Resources?

May 27, 2010 by Corey No Comments

House Sparrows live in Detroit Metro Airport’s McNamara Terminal, and the airport wants them gone. “They’ve tried nets, humane traps, even bird birth control, but nothing has worked…’We’ve tried every human option to control the bird population…and the darn birds keep outsmarting us,’ said airport spokesman Scott Wintner.”

Of course, airline passengers don’t understand the big deal, “‘They don’t matter to me,’ said Don Schenk, 46, of Atlanta, enjoying the winged display.”

So, that’s that, right?  Nope!  The airport is now playing several tapes of birds of prey in the hopes that the sparrows will be scared out of the terminal, a tactic that simply will not work to scare the sparrows but will annoy passengers: “Passenger Nathan Jacobus of Bonita Springs, Fla., isn’t crazy about the fake bird calls. ‘That’s what I find annoying,’ he said.”

You’d think that the airline industry might have better things to spend money on…

Written by Corey
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.