McKinney residents are growing tired of the noise, odor, and number of eggs that birds bring into their community. However, the biggest issue is the number of birds that are dying.
Although McKinney resident Nancy Rovik knows her neighbors’ frustration, she also expressed concern over the birds’ deaths.
Rovik frequents Kings Lake, where egrets have been nesting. She has seen eggs being run over and falling from trees in the area, which house hundreds of egret nests. She told WFAA that the site had had hundreds of dead birds removed by the wildlife department. Rovik has even stopped to help relocate eggs when she has seen them in the street.
The animal services manager for the City of McKinney, De St. Aubin, said his team knows birds are nesting in a forested area in the center of a residential neighborhood.
Under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, egrets are federally protected, and according to St. Aubin, once they have nested, they cannot be bothered in any way.
With huge numbers of nesting birds and the intense heat wave currently affecting North Texas, it is expected that residents will see many more dead birds near this nesting location, according to St. Aubin. Baby birds frequently fall from their nests or are forced from the nests by larger birds, he said.
Numerous North Texas cities experience a yearly influx of hundreds of egrets, primarily cattle egrets and snowy egrets, who come to establish their nests between February and June, according to Fort Worth magazine.
A few ways residents can deter the birds include:
- Making loud noises;
- Hanging reflective streamers in trees;
- Trimming trees;
- Setting up scary-eye balloons filled with helium.
On July 27 at 7 p.m., McKinney Animals Services will offer a free webinar to discuss how residents can help prevent egret nesting in their neighborhoods next year and what can and cannot be done about the birds.