‘Birdman’ Sets His Traps Calling All Parrots
Yacolt - It’s an appealing mixture of food, fellowship and shelter.
Actually, it’s a trap. But Christopher Driggins hopes the parrots of Yacolt won’t realize that until the door slaps shut.
The Vancouver man is part of a campaign to capture the tropical birds so they don’t have to face a grimmer fate. The Quaker parrots - some people call them Monk parakeets - have been trespassing on power poles, and three were killed in an effort to keep the birds from weaving their big nests around electrical transformers.
While Clark Public Utilities is playing hardball in protecting its power system, the agency also was part of Friday afternoon’s capture effort.
Several utility crewmen teamed up with people from several animal-advocacy groups to place four nest boxes in trees around town.
If things go well, birds will decide to set up housekeeping in the boxes. Then in a week or so, Driggins will be able to trap them inside the boxes, take custody of the occupants and find new homes for the parrots.
It’s the only option that ensures they will live. According to utility officials, the agency is willing to step back while the local residents capture the birds and relocate them in enclosed homes. The agency does not want the parrots to fly free in its service area.
“This a time-sensitive issue,” Driggins said.
Driggins is founder of N.W. Bird Rescue. Friday’s effort also included Steve Burleigh, who, with wife Donna, runs S&D Exotic Bird Rescue in Keizer, Ore.; Matt Rossell from the Portland chapter of In Defense of Animals; and Tracy Nichols from the Vancouver group Love Your Pet.
Eventually, the rescue team hopes to get 20 or so nest boxes installed around town.
Driggins, also known as Birdman, is trying to make the boxes a hot property in the parrot real-estate market. As he set up one of the wooden boxes, Driggins put a sprinkling of green and yellow feathers around the nesting area.
“They’re from my birds at home,” Driggins said. The scattered feathers will give the parrots the notion that it’s an abandoned nest, he said.
The parrots will be able to recognize the colors of the feathers, as well as their distinctive smell, Driggins said.
He also plans to give the boxes an authentic touch: Driggins will weave a few twigs and sticks around the nest boxes, and “it will look like other parrots have started to build it.”
They won’t be springing any of the traps too quickly.
“We don’t want to do this one at a time,” Burleigh said. “If one feels safe, it will bring others.”
Driggins got permission from the property owners to use their trees. A boom truck with a two-man bucket lifted the utility workers 30 or so feet off the ground, where they screwed the nest boxes to the tree trunks.
“We do quite a few community involvement projects,” said Dan Krebs, a Clark Public Utilities supervisor.
There won’t be any food in the boxes to attract the birds, Driggins said. But the rescuers will try to bait the parrots to those yards with bird food.
“Folks have started throwing feed in their backyards,” Driggins said. The menu includes safflower seeds, a couple of kinds of sunflower seeds, and cracked corn. Plus dried banana chips, dried apricots and dried papaya slices.
Oh, and Honey Nut Cheerios: “The extra glucose keeps them warm,” Driggins said.