Beach town brought in hawks, falcons and owls to scare away pesky seagulls

[douglas9]

Officials in Ocean City, N.J., have hired a company to bring in its hawks, falcons and owls to try to scare away seagulls. (City of Ocean City, N.J./City of Ocean City, N.J.)
It’s not a bird or a plane. It’s hawks, falcons and owls that you’re likely to see over the shores of Ocean City, N.J., as city leaders are trying to get rid of pesky seagulls there.

The town, population around 11,000, is a popular summertime destination, but as at many resort areas, seagulls in Ocean City can get annoying. The gulls become “dependent on an unnatural supply of food stolen from people on the boardwalk and beach,” Jay A. Gillian, the city’s mayor, said in a statement on the city’s website.

Gulls are known for swooping in and grabbing leftovers from trash cans or french fries straight from a person’s bucket.

To try to get the gulls to leave the beach area, Ocean City officials said they’ve hired a company — East Coast Falcons — to bring in falcons, hawks and owls that will scare away the gulls. They’re trying to “move the gulls away from these areas without harming them,” Gillian said in his statement.

Gulls typically leave an area and deem it unsafe at the sight of raptors.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2019/08/06/beach-town-brought-hawks-falcons-owls-scare-away-pesky-seagulls/

[douglas9]

1. Flying Assassins Are Called In to Combat Aggressive Gulls

OCEAN CITY, N.J. — They are deft predators of the French fried potato, able to pluck a fresh wedge in the milliseconds it takes a single fry to travel from its container to a human mouth.

Though gulls are as core to the Jersey Shore as a stereo blasting “Born to Run,” the birds that have been hunting the food stalls lining the boardwalk in Ocean City possess an extra level of voracious hunger, a fever pitch of aggression that stands out even in a state where pugnacity is considered a plus.

Their behavior has turned this popular oceanfront destination into a Hitchcockian dystopia of divebombing birds.

“I’ve seen them take on an entire pizza,” said Tom Baglini, 71, who lives in Ocean City with his wife, JoAnn. “I saw the guy and he had the box, and he took one slice out, and the bird came down, hit the slice, then hit the box, and the pie hit the ground, and then, like hundreds of birds just swarmed.”

Deciding it had had enough, Ocean City turned to an army of winged bouncers.

The city unleashed a posse of raptors — four hawks, two falcons and an owl — to take on the unruly gulls.

“It’s reached a point where you can’t eat on the boardwalk or beach without birds flying at your hands and face. It truly has become a safety hazard,” said Ocean City’s mayor, Jay A. Gillian. “I remain committed to doing whatever it takes to make sure the boardwalk and beach experience in Ocean City is safe, family friendly and enjoyable.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/nyregion/ocean-city-nj-seagulls.html