Several hawks circle over a wooded area off Ferndale Drive, but in the nearby landfill site only a flock of southbound Canada geese can be seen high overhead, disinterested in what may lie below.
Long gone are the days of flocks of seagulls swarming over Barrie's active dump area in search of food, leaving trails of feces and feathers across the vast Sandy Hollow site.
The credit, according to city officials, largely goes to Millie, a Harris's hawk trained to scare off nuisance birds that formerly scavenged the Barrie landfill site in search of food. Millie works alongside falconer Aaron Rose, her handler.
In case it’s not absolutely clear, Millie quickly lets the seagulls know who’s the dominant species in the food chain, flying through snow-white flocks if they dare appear and going after the gulls if they insist on sticking around.
The falcon, with Rose, makes its rounds daily at the Barrie landfill site to discourage nuisance birds from from coming near.
A couple of sweeps around Sandy Hollow usually does the trick. But in early summer the new chicks taking flight are still on a steep learning curve, and that means more work for the falcon – a Harris's hawk in this case.
“That’s when our job is the hardest, because they don’t understand the threat,” says Robin Churchill, vice-president of Predator Bird Services Inc., which employs about 50 people and has 150 birds to ward off gulls and other nuisance birds at power and ethanol plants, dumps – including several in the Simcoe County area – and airports across North America.
Migration season can get busy, requiring the hawk to take flight up to 20 times in a day, sometimes with the help of a second bird. Winter, on the other hand, tends to be low season.
Scavenging birds have long proven to be problematic at dumps and airports, interfering with regular operations. Bird abatement programs have proven a safe and effective tool in recent decades to keep them away. In England, for instance, falcons have been used to discourage pigeons from fouling London's Trafalgar Square and the tennis courts at prestigious Wimbledon.
Harris's hawks have increasingly become the bird of choice for these programs, because they are considered easy to train and are social.
“For years, there were lots of seagulls … and it led to a lot of, as you can imagine, feces and feathers” around the scale house area, which is frequented by the public, explains Chris Marchant, senior manager of operations with the City of Barrie’s environment services.
The waste and runoff created safety concerns, prompting the search for solutions. Auditory and visual measures, such as the use of reflectors and other attempts to deter the birds, didn’t have the significant impact that was required. So, in 2018, the city issued a request for proposals and Predator Bird Services came to the fore with its falcon-led control methods.
Every day, Rose drives Millie to the top of the landfill in a white pickup truck, much like those used by city employees at the west-end site. If there’s any sign of gulls, the falcon is released from the back of the vehicle and sent airborne to let the gulls know they’re not wanted.
And it doesn’t take long for the chicks to catch on.
“Essentially, the bird goes up and makes a bit of noise now and the seagulls know that he means business and go away,” says Marchant. “It’s to the point now that the seagulls know what this vehicle means.
“It has been exceptionally effective.”
For nuisance birds in the know, any white pickup has proved a deterrent, given that’s what Millie inevitably emerges from.
Through control and predation, the team is able to keep the landfill mostly clear of bird poop and feathers without the use of traps, pesticides or kill methods.
As a predator, Millie can be aggressive and will 'remove' a stubborn bird if needed. When that does happen, however, the event needs to be reported to the provincial ministry.
Predator Bird Services was launched in 2007 out of London, Ont. Churchill joined in 2009 after doing a master’s degree in wildlife and handling birds part-time while studying.
Bird handlers and trainers are recruited in the geographic areas in which they’re needed.
And at the end of the day, the bird goes home with its handler.
A new employee will be given an experienced bird, allowing them to learn the basics. When they’re ready, they can then work on training a new one.
The hawks are released untethered and are expected to return to the trainer.
The trick, says Churchill, is for the handler to build a relationship with the hawk.
The hawk also knows there is always food waiting for them when the job is complete.