CTReaderEast.com Local News, Read all about it!: Falcons take to the sky in Glastonbury

Falcons take to the sky in Glastonbury
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Andrew Simonow on 20 August, 2008 11:03:00
 
So do starlings and other “nuisance” birds, who if not checked, can decimate
a blueberry crop and cost farmers thousands of dollars. One such farm, Rose’s
Berry Farm in Glastonbury, Connecticut, tried everything they could think of to
scare away the out-of-control starlings – insecticides, loud noises, even
shooting the blueberry-addicted birds. None of these methods were popular with
their neighbors, and they didn’t protect the blueberries very well either.
When you have a bird problem, who do you call?  How about another bird? Enter
Erik Swanson and his falcons to Rose’s rescue. Falconer Swanson, of Lodi, New
Jersey, has been guarding and protecting landfills and airports such as John F.
Kennedy Airport from nuisance birds like starlings and crows for years, keeping
the smaller birds away from flight paths. Although falcons are fierce predators,
well-fed and professionally handled falcons don’t kill the starlings; they
simply chase them away.
The falcons have been equally successful at persuading the starlings at Rose’s
Berry Farm to move on. Everyone is happy – the falcons, Rose’s Berry Farm,
the farm’s neighbors, even the blueberries are showing their happiness by
ripening fat and unpecked. The only ones not happy are the starlings, who will
have to find other things to eat.