Crows roosting in the trees outside Old Main and the HUB-Robeson Center could come home to an unpleasant surprise this week: Office of Physical Plant (OPP) employees armed with pyrotechnic noisemakers to scare them off campus.
University officials hope the loud noises will be enough to startle the crows from the trees and prevent a situation like last winter's crow problem, when about 3,000 crows roosted in trees by the Allen Street Gates, covering the area in droppings.
"It's a non-harmful way to get rid of them. We certainly don't want to decimate the crow population. We just don't want them here," university spokeswoman Annemarie Mountz said, adding she did not know how many crows were on campus currently.
Specially trained OPP employees will set off the pyrotechnics -- known as "bangers" and "screamers" -- at about dusk each evening beginning this week, Mountz said. The relocation program could take as long as a month, she said.
OPP will also hang effigies of dead crows in roosting trees around Old Main and the HUB to alarm the crows.
"You hear the noise, and then you see the dead crow effigy, and the combination of the two signals danger to the birds," Mountz said. "This strategy with the noise and the effigies is designed to work with the way birds think."
The crows are attracted to light and warmth from buildings on campus, which is why they've chosen to roost near central campus, Mountz said.
"They could fly into State College when we scare them off, and so we're working with the borough to jointly find solutions. It's very much a town-gown effort," she said.
The university attempted to get rid of crows last winter by using a fog machine that emitted the smell of cotton candy two to three hours a night in an effort to relocate lingering crows.
Some borough representatives said they aren't concerned about crows roosting in the borough, but expressed interest in the university's program.
"It's really psychological warfare," said State College Borough Council President Elizabeth Goreham. "But it'll be interesting to see who is outwitted and how long it will take to relocate them."
The borough will monitor the situation and does not yet have any plans to relocate the crows if they come into the borough, Goreham said.
Council member James Rosenberger said he didn't have "serious concerns" about the crows potentially roosting in the borough.
"I think it's slightly amusing they're bringing the big guns out for the crows," he said.
The roosting crows' droppings can present health and sanitation problems, Mountz said, adding the crows can also damage the trees they roost in.
"We don't want them hanging around," she said, adding the crows on campus now create a "rather eerie" effect in the evening.
"It's almost like Alfred Hitchcock and The Birds," she said.
