Don't be alarmed - it's just the cannon to scare off the birds
PORTLAND, Ore. - If you're heading across the Interstate Bridge and hear a series of big booms, stay calm and just keep on going.
From now through mid-March, the Oregon Department of Transportation will be using a propane orchard cannon to try to detract starlings from the bridge.
Every fall, thousands of the birds migrate to our area and many of them roost on the Interstate Bridge, particularly on the lift spans.
What's the big deal?
Their bird droppings create quite a mess by coating the bridge spans, catwalks, roadway, vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians.
So in the next couple of months, ODOT crews will using a propane orchard cannon to create loud noises to startle the birds.
For those who use the bridge to travel between Portland and Vancouver, that means you might get a little startled as well. The booms could occur as often as once every 15 seconds. Those who live and work nearby will also be able to hear them.
What's the schedule for this?
The times will vary based on the reaction of the birds, so there is no set timetable. ODOT does that for a reason - it keeps the birds from becoming accustomed to a regular pattern.
What is a propane orchard cannon?
Propane powered orchard cannons were originally designed to disturb birds in fruit orchards. They create a loud noise - the boom of an air cannon - to startle the birds.
Probably need to ban it.
Sure hope its not an assault cannon! LOL
Starlings should be eradicated using any means necessary.
Eventually the birds get used to the cannon and won't move. Plus the cannon just makes them crap when they hear it at first and will make a bigger mess. I have experience with orchard cannons.
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What I do is to tie wire a few inches above the areas where birds can perch and that makes it so they can't land.
 @RalphCramdenÂ
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We used to have those and those spiked rails you attach to the tops as well at our school to keep them fron roosting.
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It is funny to see them attempt to land on the wire and wiggle and fall off.
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 @RepomanÂ
In one place the woodpeckers would get under the wires and start boring into my home. So I put a fine mesh in there and came back about 2 months later and the mesh was full of dead woodpeckers.
 @jpk    @RepomanÂ
My dry sense of humor.
@RalphCramden @jpk @Repoman Ralph, suicide? Maybe the little pecker-heads need some mental health consideration as an entitled community that hasn't yet gotten the vote.
 @jpk    @RepomanÂ
It is illegal to kill non game birds. But I didn't kill the woodpeckers. They committed suicide.
@RalphCramden @Repoman Hope the feds don't accuse you of harming federally protected peckers.
Great idea, Ralph! It might even work with Ocupiers, donchathink?