As the sun went down, they came: hundreds of black birds, gliding silently just above the treetops.
And a few hundred feet away, a man in a neon vest loaded a Bird Banger into his orange cap gun and fired, sending a swirl of sparks into the air.
The noise, akin to an eighth of a stick of dynamite exploding, according to maintenance utility worker Andrew Braucht, was enough to send the crows scattering.
The crew from the Office of Physical Plant (OPP) surveyed its work, then moved forward and continued firing.
The university's crow relocation program literally started off with a bang Thursday night as OPP workers fired 102 pyrotechnic noisemakers into the air around Pond Laboratory to eradicate about 300 roosting crows from campus.
Reloading his cap gun, OPP Area Services Supervisor Jeremy Smith surveyed the scene.
"It's a piece of cake," he said, grinning. He added the pyrotechnics used to scare the crows off -- known as "bangers" and "screamers" -- have never been used on campus before.
Many crew members said they hunt frequently. For the reloca-
tion program, which could last as long as a month, they've been
specially trained to use the pyrotechnics.
"From a hunter's aspect, I don't find it as exciting," Braucht said. "But as far as being on campus here, the crows are a real nuisance."
Some students walking by the scene exchanged puzzled looks or asked what was going on; some assumed the worst.
"I thought someone had been shot," said Tristan Buckley (sophomore-film), watching as the crew fired screamers above the trees. "That was a little alarming."
Ryan Coffman (senior-environmental systems engineering) paused under the trees outside Pond as pyrotechnics went off above him.
"Ah, I thought the cops were on their way," he said. "It seems like a different approach, but the crows are a nuisance on campus, definitely."
Braucht said the crew could begin setting off pyrotechnics during the day if the crows refused to relocate, but Smith said he was pleased with the first night of the program.
"This is my baby," he said afterward, loading the last of the bangers and screamers into his truck. "I thought it went really well."
