The Streets and Sidewalks are cleaned

The City came out today and cleaned the streets and sidewalk today. The sidewalks look good but the streets are stained.

The news was out in force today documenting the process.

Here are some scarey numbers...

Bird	Average Eggs	Breeding Cycle	Chicks	Adults	Total per Nest
Cattle Egret	4	2	4	2	8
Snowy Egret	4	2	4	2	8
Great Egret	4	2	4	2	8
Great Blue Heron	4	2	4	2	8
Little Blue Heron	4	2	4	2	8
Little Green Heron	4	2	4	2	8
Yellow Crowned Night Heron	4	2	4	2	8
Black Crowned Night Heron	4	2	4	2	8

Going off the norm that the birds have two breeding cycles this means there was an average of 8 birds per nest. Only 1/2 the eggs will hatch and the remainder will end up on the ground.

Tony said he has 50 nest per tree which is a total of 150 nest. This means he had 1,200 birds in his trees this year and 600 eggs in his yard. We did however have what are called "late comers" which would add another 600 birds and another 300 eggs.

So if the numbers work out right here is what Tony had in just his yard:

   150 Nest

1,800 Birds

   900 Eggs

What was the total of the neighborhood?

Animal Services

Well Animal Services said they have only picked up three adult birds this week - no babies!

They have picked up over 700 birds out of our neighborhood. This is just what they have found not what lies decaying in yards or in the trees. The neighborhood strays are all fat and sassy from the free meals that have been running around the neighborhood.

These guys and gals deserve a commendation for the hard work they have put in for our neighborhood. They put themselves at risk daily picking up the fallen.

The cleaning begins...

Well since the number of birds has  lowered we can start cleaning up after them. Everything has been covered with droppings, regurgitation, feathers and dead things.

It will be nice to get back to some semblance of a normal life. There has been no outdoor activities since March due to the birds.

There was another news article on the neighborhood regarding the infestation:
http://www.scntx.com/articles/2011/08/27/carrollton_leader/news/985.txt

The city's Neighborhood Advisory Committee is putting on a information session regarding the birds in November. I don't want all the responsibility for preventing this from happening again to fall to the residents. The City needs to step up and assist with prevention as well. They can train their employees to start looking and warn residents.

We are going to have a fight on our hands next year to make sure we do not go through this again...

Only a few left...

There are only a few birds left in the trees at night. Once they are gone we can clean up the streets. We still need to get the City to agree to let USFW to deter the birds from the entire city.

Wait...what is that...

Is that what I think it is? The sweet sounds of silence? I don't hear a thousand birds in the trees anymore. You don't feel like you have hit a brick wall of odor when you go outside. You can park your car out front again. We are nearing the end and the clean up can begin.

The dead are starting to fall...

Well at least some of them. Did you know that dead birds break apart when they hit the ground? I didn't, but I do now...