Few birds have captured the attention of as many people throughout history as ravens.
“Human cultures have always noticed that ravens are smart and so they make their way into folklore, into stories, into the way we make sense of nature,” naturalist Trevor Herriot said.
But these sleek, often thought of as ominous, black birds, are becoming a nuisance at Mosaic Stadium.
“It’s just over a week ago that people have really begun to notice the number of ravens on our property,” Digital Media & Corporate Communications with Evraz Place Shalyn Kivela said.
During the day hundreds of ravens make their way to the Regina landfill and by dusk they make their way to the stadium to roost for the night.
“It is a tall building, it’s away from people and it’s emitting heat, so that’s where they go during the cold winter months,” Kivela said.
To prevent the birds from permanently nesting, the Stadium’s operators Evraz Place and the city are launching a scare program.
Shots from a cannon will be set off every other day for the next two weeks, starting Monday evening at 7:00 p.m.
The noise will sound similar to fireworks going off and will be heard throughout a certain radius around the stadium.
“If you’re inside your home or inside your car you’re probably not going to hear anything,” RIVA Specialized Cleaning Services Pigeon Control master bird specialist Richard Swallow said. “If you’re out walking your dog or moving some ice, you might hear something but nothing to be alarmed about.”
But Herriot says the noise is simply moving the problem elsewhere and suggests a better solution.
“Why doesn’t Regina look for a creative solution, one that no other city has tried and find a place where ravens could roost,” he said.
Roosting is something that happens during the winter and come warmer months most ravens leave the city to nest. It’s a pattern that Herriot says happened at the old Mosaic Stadium.
“They were roosting there quite happily for a number of years,” Herriot explained. “On Christmas bird counts we could count them by the hundreds. They seem to start roosting around Christmas time then it goes to January and then they disperse because they are really early nesters.”
While the noise won’t harm the birds, it’s an unkindness that may not fool them either.
“The ravens are going to move somewhere else,” Herriot said. “They’re not going to completely abandon Regina because you shoot big noises here at the stadium.”
In fact Herriot adds the ravens have always been a part of the northern Great Plains until agricultural settlement happened and then they retreated to the north for various reasons.
“They’ve just recently returned to recolonize their old haunts and they’ve found that they can make a very successful living out here in our agricultural landscapes just as scavengers,” he said.
Right now it remains to be seen how effective these cannons will be. After February 2, the situation will be assessed.
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