Published: November 04, 2009 11:47 pm      

Flock of a problem

Farmers describe Hitchcock horror film scene as blackbirds, starlings, grackles destroy crops

ASHLAND — Some local farmers recently found themselves in what they described as scene from “The Birds,” Alfred Hitchcock’s famous horror film, as thousands of blackbirds, starlings and grackles descended on their crops.

“The skies were black,” said Danny Blevins, 63, a third generation Lawrence County farmer.

“When they hit they hit with such numbers — innumerable — experiencing it was something else. These guys would come in right above your head — tens of thousands of them. The sound of it, they would be in the forest close by and the sound would be overwhelming. The noise level would echo.

“When they would come in, in such numbers, it would be a rush of wind. The combination of the sounds and the sheer numbers, it would create such a wind velocity you could actually hear it like a storm. The field would just shake. It was totally black. It’s like something from a science fiction movie. I think I saw something like this in Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds,’” he said.

The flocks of blackbirds first began devouring Blevins’ 15 acres of feed corn last week and have not yet left although their numbers appear to be dissipating.

Farmers on all sides of Blevins’ 600-acre farm in the East Fork Valley Watershed along Ky. 3 in Lawrence and Boyd counties have also reported the ravenous flocks.

Blevins said he and many of his neighbors have tried in vain to scare the masses away. After days of trying, they simply began harvesting whatever they could, any way they could.

Blevins said a portion of his crop had already been harvested weeks earlier for corn silage. What remained was left on the stalks to dry out so it could be stored and used for grain to feed his 75 head of cattle through the winter.

The grain and silage are vital components to the specialized beef the small farm produces, Blevins said.

“I literally stayed in the field starting Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, all those days trying to run them off,” Blevins said, recalling he fired more than 300 rounds of shot gun shells to try to frighten the birds.

“It was just one of those things, our equipment wasn’t ready to go. I was trying to stall for time and run them off,” he said.

“By Sunday afternoon I gave up. I knew then that it was impossible. I literally left the field and let them have it,” Blevins said.

On Monday, although the corn was not completely dry, he and several other helpers began picking.

“One person literally watched the field and ran them off while the other person picked,” Blevins said. “It was just surreal.”

Blevins estimates he has lost at least 25 percent of his remaining crop. More could be lost if the corn is too damp and deteriorates while in storage.

“It’s been pretty devastating. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life,” he said.

“I’ve lived on my farm all my life. I’ve seen a lot of things, seen crops wiped out by floods, but nothing has ever really stopped us. This will. These guys are vicious and like I said they are smart, organized and they have numbers.

“This is one of the most devastating problems that we’ve ever encountered. We’ve hit a wall on this because we can’t deal with it. This is a game-ender,” he said.

Blevins said he fears the birds will continue to come back year after year. If that happens, he said, he will have to quit farming.

“This is a centerpiece of what we do in farming. We center our livestock farming around grain,” he said.

University of Kentucky Extension Wildlife Specialist Tom Barnes offered some hope. He said although the large flocks of blackbirds are a historic problem throughout the Ohio River Valley, just because a certain area is experiencing the phenomenon this year does not mean it will happen annually.

“It’s kind of a stochastic or random event depending on where the crops are and where they are roosting,” he said, adding the specific migratory patterns of birds can change from year to year.

“They will stay there typically until a food resource is gone and then they move on,” he said.

The birds travel in flocks year round but are typically larger during the fall. He said a number of methods is typically used to try to rid areas of the flocks.

Propane cannons can be used to frighten them away, or if a roosting area is located other methods can be employed, including bird bangers, screamers and rockets.

He encouraged farmers to contact the Department of Agriculture and state or federal wildlife services for assistance.

Those agencies have access to management tools including lethal ones that are not available to the general public.