Hitchcock Was A Prophet

This Spring, we here at Casa Kimota have been inundated with some dirty birds. Where normally we get a few robins, and the odd cardinal, along with assorted others I couldn't name, this year we've been saddled with a significant number of some larger avian species (crows? blackbirds? ravens?) that have taken to using our backyard deck and pool as their toilet. Every day we have to clean up 20 to 30 white, round droppings from where they've been deposited on the solar blanket and patio stones, each of them about the size of a marble. If we can ever manage to get rid of the buggers, we'll have to replace our solar blanket, as it's already stained to the point of being disgusting. As of right now, though, we're not even sure how to get the defecaters to leave.

In the reading I did last week on the topic, I saw such suggestions as bird of prey decoys and sonic or ultrasonic devices that emit sounds that mimic distress cries of various bird species. We've tried one instance of the former ploy - a life sized plastic owl, perched up on a pole near the pool - that seems to have had limited or no effect. That was a $20 expense; the sound boxes are more like $100 to $500, depending on the level of sophistication. I've also considered buying a pellet gun and giving them something to think about the next time they're taking a crap in our yard.

The most disturbing aspect of what I read, though, was the cause attributed to most of the bird anomalies in this area of Canada. Virtually everything I found on the Internet indicated, usually in passing, that the increased influx of birds into our towns and cities is tied to the rising temperatures we've been experiencing. The milder winters, it seems, have allowed their populations to grow beyond what they used to. Chatham had something like a quarter million crows to deal with in 2000, to the point where they spent $50,000 to have an expert come in and help scare the noisy and filthy pests off. Woodstock has had similar issues recently. And now we're having our own, albeit on a (so far) much smaller scale. What does this say about the direction the environment is heading?

As the planet warms up, we expect sea levels to rise and coastal land to be lost. Maybe New York City will end up under water, along with densely populated parts of Asia. But before we get to those apocalyptic events, though, which might still be a few decades away if they're not somehow averted, are we going to see more and more of these less drastic signs of natural unbalance? What other species are going to start being a problem in areas where they previously hadn't been? How would you feel about having a rat infestation in your neighbourhood? Or bigger and more dangerous spiders to have to contend with? Swarms of mosquitoes, bees or blackflies? Things like that are what I'm starting to think we're going to face first, before the big stuff, thanks to decades of treating our planet so carelessly.