Anyone who's ever tried to deal with pest birds nesting in their home or business, often in places where they cause damage or make a huge mess, knows it's not an easy task. But if you ask master falconer Michael Beran, the solution might just be: more birds.
Channel 2 joined Beran and his friend Corey Dalton, as they exercised Dalton's Harris hawk, Sky, in the open Spanish Springs desert.
"It's pretty much like taking your dog for a walk," Dalton said.
Sky is a natural predator, as she demonstrated while terrorizing the local rabbit population. This makes her, and other birds of prey like her, uniquely qualified for pest control.
"The pest birds are innately, unreasonably afraid of hawks and falcons," Beran explains, "and so it's super effective."
He said his birds are more effective than spike strips, poison, or a well-aimed air rifle; the typical choices for dealing with a pest bird problem. They're also more humane. These birds of prey can permanently scare off all your pest pigeons, starlings, and sparrows, without harming them. A large predator in the area is just a little encouragement to roost elsewhere.
"Our falcons are trained not to catch them, not to eat them," Beran said. "They are a pest. They are a problem. But they do serve a purpose in the ecosystem."
A purpose, yes, but in the right context. Starlings can cause major damage to homes, pulling out insulation and packing in flammable material. Other birds contaminate food processing businesses, since their droppings carry salmonella. Beran said pigeon poop especially has enough acid to rust metal, weakening structures like bridges over time. So he has been busy de-birding businesses, from warehouses, to restaurants, to airports.
"Every airport, every major air base, probably has a falconer that is helping prevent bird strikes against the aircraft," Beran said.
And now he's brought his birds to Reno. The Biggest Little City, apparently, has a pest bird problem. When the season is right, Beran said, it'll be a pest bat problem, too. But if it's ruffling your feathers, Beran is happy to swoop in and fix that problem the way Mother Nature intended.
"Avian Strike Force's main purpose is to be able to do it as humanely and naturally as possible," Beran said.
For more information about Avian Strike Force, click here.
