Residents Can 'Annoy' But Not Kill Birds Invading Colusa County
MAXWELL (CBS13) – A Colusa County neighborhood is being invaded by birds that leaving behind feathers, dropping and a stench in the air.
Residents like 92-year-old Elsie Brown in Maxwell showed us the nests in the trees where herons and egrets have been nesting.
She says at time there have been up to 50 birds in the trees outside her home. Her property is the cleanest it has been in days but there are still hundreds of feathers and bird droppings scattered throughout her land and all over town.
"What makes it horrific is they have a lot of droppings as you can see," said Brown. They have a lot of feathers and it's just very…it's just not very healthy or clean."
The Colusa County health department is getting calls from people concerned about the possible health issues and the smell from the birds.
However, there isn't much anyone can do.
The birds are protected under federal guidelines.
They can't be killed, but it's OK to annoy them.
The county health department calls it hazing and they say basically it's creating noise to get the birds to fly away.
The health department says it is looking into buying noise makers to put on top of buildings around town hoping it will encourage the birds to fly away.
Officials also suggest homeowners use water hoses to try and spray the nests out of the trees.
