THE BATTALION Page?
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1979
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Although their voices are attractive and their
appearance enjoyable, the birds on campus
are creating a problem with the messes they
leave due to their large numbers. This prob
lem has even reached the extent that the
maintenance department has to scare the
birds out of their nesting sites.
Battalion photo by Sam Stroder
annons, distress cry
sed to scare birds
By STEVE CRITCHFIELD
Battalion Reporter
Those cannons you may have
fcard on campus the weekend of
msorak P* 27 between 6 and 7 p.m. we-
Englisli p n t those of pranksters or military
11 benefit li
rills.
■ They were one of the Texas A&M
(niversity Grounds Maintenance
epartment’s attempts to scare
losting birds off campus grounds.
The best method of controlling the
ge numbers of roosting birds has
en the trimming of the smaller
lynches of campus trees, Ray said.
^ ^ ^ They cause a great sanitation
"tch begin'fe ro ^ em ’' sa *^ Eugene Ray, dire-
Hor of the department about the
■rds. Ray said the grackle, starling
; Jewish S: aiK l cowbird concentrations after
Tower, j^irk in campus trees can leave great
,amounts of defecation.
R Ray said the problem reached its
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peak three years ago when it re
sulted in thousands of dollars in labor
to clean up after the birds.
“It was then we decided to try to
control the birds,” Ray said.
He said all earlier attempts to
scare the birds from their roosts
failed with the birds only fluttering
up and landing again in nearby trees.
The department was then granted
a federal permit to shoot the birds
but that didn’t help either. “It didn’t
scare them anymore than the other
methods,” Ray said.
But finally, after more than a year,
the best scare tactic was discovered.
“We had two trucks driving
around campus,” Ray said, “One had
a cannon and the other had an ampli
fied recording of a starling distress
cry. The birds didn’t react well un
less the trucks were in the same
an star in
to go to
to
admission
ounty, state election returns match
Brazos County voters followed
itewide trends Tuesday and stayed
tiway from the polls in droves as two
of three proposed constitutional
endments passed.
Voter turnout was light all over
the state. Locally, only 1,284 ballots
were cast in the election.
Proposition 2, which would have
given the Legislature the power to
"eto the actions of state agencies,
as overwhelmingly defeated locally
and statewide.
Both Proposition 1, which would
license notaries public statewide and
Proposition 3, which would create a
$10 million bond program for farm
loans, were approved by voters loc
ally and statewide.
Vote totals from Brazos County’s
31 precincts were:
— No. 1: 650 for, 623 against
— No. 2: 388 for, 876 against
— No. 3: 826 for, 444 against.
03-B
77843
16 Ext. 3i|
35
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lYOUR CHRISTMAS GIFT
FROM US TO YOU!
^0! Gift Certificate
20% discount on all
Merchandise - Gift Certificate
good through Dec. 3, 1979
Must present certificate for discount.
ts&tXft&QSK
c The
3601 E. 29thSto&et
Post Oak Center
Use our Convenient Layaway Plan
$110,000 contracts enable A&M
archeologists to continue projects
A large tract in East Texas and
another site in the Cross Timbers
region will undergo exhaustive
archeological surveys this year and
next by Texas A&M University sci
entists.
Two contracts totaling nearly
$110,000 — the second and third
major Texas projects in recent
months — have been awarded to the
interdisciplinary Cultural Resources
Laboratory at Texas A&M, said re
search scientist Dr. Erv Garrison.
The larger project is a $57,567
contract from R.W. Beck & Associ
ates of Seattle to study an area in Palo
Pinto County where an electric re
servoir and hydroelectric storage
tank will be constructed near the
Brazos River.
SUNOCO Energy Development
Corp. awarded $49,921 for the Texas
A&M scientists to make a similar
study of9,000 acres in eastern Ange
lina County where SUNOCO prop
oses a lignite mining project.
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-5046
odstone Center
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Ray said the combination of the
distress cry and the propane cannon
noises apparently signaled a greater
danger to the birds and their roost
ing sites were abandoned for the
night.
The department has been using
that method ever since but now only
one truck is used. Ray said this pick
up is equipped with both a propane
cannon and a tape player. Only one
man is needed to activate the prop
ane tank, play the recordings and
drive while the cannon automatically
fires at 30-35 second intervals.
Ray said the cannons and record
ings are generally sounded only dur
ing Thanksgiving, Christmas, and
spring break when students are gone
from campus. He said they were
used Oct. 27 because it was assumed
that most students would have gone
home or to the Texas A&M-Rice
football game in Houston.
Ray said the birds are frightened
“30 or 40 minutes either side of sun
down because after they get settled
in the trees they’re a lot harder to
scare.”
Ray said this method is more eco
nomical than those used in the past.
So far it has cost us between $600
and $800 and 200-300 man-hours.”
Ray said the birds are only fright
ened from the parts of campus where
people walk. He said the area east of
the Administration Building and
around the golf course are not dis
turbed and are allowed to remain
roosting places.
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