Hawks being used to clear seagulls from region’s landfill

The eternal struggle of predator versus prey is playing out at the Regional Municipality of Waterloo Waste Management landfill site.

To help control the seagull population, the region has hired Free Bird Falconry, which uses hawks and falcons for the job.

The gulls are naturally fearful of birds of prey, making the use of hawks particularly effective.

Julia Staines is the owner of Free Bird and is a licensed falconer. She told 570 NewsRadio she uses a specific species for this job.

“Harris’s hawks are actually native to the southwestern United States, so you wouldn’t see them here occurring naturally. They are a little bit smaller than a red-tailed hawk; they are more streamlined. A red-tailed hawk is a little more bulky and a little bit slower.”

She said because they come from the south, Harris’s hawks are well-suited to Canadian summers. In the winter months, Staines relies on her red-tailed hawks and peregrine falcons, which are native to southern Ontario.

Staines said over the years, the gulls have learned that when they see her coming, it’s time to move on.

“They recognize my truck. So, they’ll start to take off as soon as they see the truck, and then I’ll let the bird out, and that will reinforce it. She’ll kind of just fly around, and then she’ll fly right back in the window of the truck, and then we can keep driving around the site.”

According to Staines, the intention is to scare the gulls away.

“My goal is not to hunt the gulls. Of course, the hawks are basically wild animals, even though they are tame. So, in their minds, they’re hunting. But, that’s not what we’re doing, we actually just want to scare them.”

The gulls, especially when gathered en masse, can become more than just a nuisance. They can impede operations by being in the way. They can be extremely noisy and sometimes aggressive, not to mention the droppings.

They could also spread trash and all that comes along with it, to surrounding areas, like residential neighbourhoods or the shopping areas at the Boardwalk.

Staines said the reason using hawks is more effective than other methods is because of the gulls’ natural fear of the hawks.

“Gulls are extremely intelligent, so if you do anything that is non-lethal, basically, they’ll start to realize it’s not a threat to them. I’ve seen lasers used, I’ve seen distress calls, I’ve seen decoys, kites, all that kind of stuff, and just start to kind of ignore it after a period of time.”