Dutch Gap Vultures Won’t Be Bullied: Despite Effort to Kill Black Buzzards in Chesterfield, Their Number is Increasing
By Rex Springston, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.
Oct. 30–You can kill them, but they keep coming back.
They are the black vultures of Dutch Gap, and their presence is as perplexing as any Halloween mystery.
At a boat landing on the James River near Chester, the big black birds scratch and defecate on parked vehicles. They also cause problems at a power plant next door.
Over the past seven years, the damage has run into the tens of thousands of dollars.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s wildlife services program, which deals with problem animals, has killed about 1,250 vultures at Dutch Gap in three efforts since 2002. The last time, during the winter of 2005-2006, they killed about 540.
After each time, the population eventually shot back up. Now, between 350 and 400 vultures are perching and hopping around the landing and causing trouble again.
“They definitely are back,” said Scott Barras, state director of the wildlife services program.
Chesterfield County, which manages the boat landing, is prepared to pay Barras’ program about $5,000 for a fourth round of killings.
But for now, the concerned parties are considering other options, including the possibility of a study to determine the origin of the birds — with an eye toward shooing them elsewhere.
“We don’t want to be killing the birds, either,” said Mike Golden, Chesterfield’s parks director. “We want better solutions.”
Bird lovers demonstrated at the Dutch Gap landing yesterday, saying Barras’ agency needs to find a nonlethal answer because killing hasn’t worked. Dawn Wilson of Henrico County, a freelance editor and former ecologist, said measures could include moving some of the vultures to other parts of Virginia.
“The recurring capture-and-kill approach . . . betrays the trust we place in our natural resource managers,” Wilson said in an e-mail.
Barras said killing more birds is still an option.
The vultures endanger workers at the Chesterfield Power Station, next to the landing, by making catwalks slippery with their droppings, said Dominion Virginia Power spokesman Karl Neddenien.
But Neddenien said Dominion Virginia Power also favors a solution other than killing. “That obviously hasn’t worked.”
Black vultures, and their red-headed relatives the turkey vultures, are sometimes called buzzards. Black vultures are almost all black, with 5-foot wingspans.
Vultures have frequented Dutch Gap for decades, but their numbers shot up in the 1990s. Some thought the birds were attracted to trash at the landing, but putting a lid on the trash didn’t make the birds leave.
The birds usually can be chased away with tools such as noisemakers, but that hasn’t worked at Dutch Gap, said Barras, the federal official.
“For some reason, the vultures have a strong attachment to this site, and it’s not clear why . . . so that’s unique.”
Bryan Watts, director of the College of William and Mary’s Center for Conservation Biology, said removing food may not be the answer. The highly social birds may be going to Dutch Gap because that’s the place to socialize — just as people go to a favorite bar.
“Another bar may go up down the street, but everyone’s always gone to this one, so they keep going there.” Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or rspringston@timesdispatch.com.
MORE SLIDESHOWS Take photo tours and learn more about Dutch Gap Conservation Area in Chesterfield County. Take a tour
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