The City of St. Albert is not doing anything new to control crow and magpie numbers this summer, but it has some cages you can borrow if you want one.
The Gazette received two letters in recent weeks implying the city had taken steps to control its crow and magpie populations.
The first, from Thomas Jensen of Heritage Lakes, thanked the city for “dramatically reducing the number of crows and magpies this spring,” adding that he has seen more songbirds this spring than he had in a decade as a result.
The city has not, in fact, taken any new steps to control crow and magpie numbers this year, said city parks operations supervisor Erin Pickard. While the city does remove some nests from public trees each spring, the city does not actively trap or kill crows or magpies in town. The city brought in Robert MacDonald of Wildlife Control Services to shoot crows and magpies on Flagstone Crescent in 2009, but that was a one-off, last-resort step.
“Kill measures are not our standard response for magpies and crows,” Pickard said, as when you kill one group, another soon moves in to replace it.
Crows and magpies are also important parts of the city’s ecosystem as they eat bugs and roadkill, she added.
Fewer crows? Probably not
When reached by The Gazette, Jensen said he and his neighbours observed a steep decline in crow and magpie numbers on their street this spring compared to the previous eight and assumed the city was the cause.
“This spring they disappeared, so somebody has done something.”
The city doesn’t track crow and magpie numbers, but city crews have not seen any anecdotal evidence of a widespread drop in these bird populations, Pickard said. Crews have, however, had a spike in calls about crow and magpie controls following the publication of those two letters in The Gazette.
MacDonald, who deals with wildlife complaints throughout the Edmonton region, said he hasn’t noticed any change in magpie and crow numbers this year, adding that he will have to wait until the latest bird-count numbers are in to spot any actual changes. The ongoing avian flu outbreak could have caused local populations to dip in parts of St. Albert, as could someone shooting a few crow families.
Crow and magpie numbers tend to be pretty stable in cities as they have plenty of food, MacDonald said.
“Right now, parent crows are going to be teaching crows how to be crows,” he said, so residents will likely see crow families milling about roadsides eating bugs, particularly grasshoppers.
While you can control crow and magpie numbers by removing nests each spring, MacDonald said you have to do so for years before you see noticeable results. It also typically isn’t worth doing unless you have an unsustainable number of the birds (over four breeding pairs per block). Shooting the birds in city limits is illegal and dangerous.
The City of St. Albert does have a few magpie traps residents can borrow to catch problem birds, Pickard said. (They used to have a crow trap, but the birds were smart enough to avoid it.) Residents can also call public works at 780-459-1557, or private pest control companies for advice.
The best way to keep crows and magpies out of your yard is to remove attractants such as unsecured trash or pet food, Pickard said.
Crows and magpies hang around yards because they perceive them as safe, MacDonald said. Hang shiny CDs or charge at the birds while opening and closing an umbrella to convince them to move on.
