Groups are raising a flap over proposed dispersal of birds
The Bexar Audubon Society, the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center and residents near Elmendorf Lake are pushing back against plans by the city and Joint Base San Antonio to disperse hundreds of cattle egrets.
During a meeting Monday night at Our Lady of the Lake University, they called on the military to provide more evidence of birds’ potential danger to pilots and accused the city of inadequately communicating with the community about the plan.
The city and JBSA have worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to develop a plan to cut lakeside underbrush and use lasers, pyrotechnics and other bright lights and loud noises to encourage the large cattle egret population to roost elsewhere.
The lake is in the middle of the West Side. The rookery, on what’s commonly called Bird Island, has between 800 and 1,200 cattle egrets during breeding season, according to Brianna Kubiak, a USDA airport wildlife hazard biologist.
Other species, including great egrets, snowy egrets and cormorants, also live in the area, which residents are concerned about disturbing.
As the cattle egrets travel from the lake to Covel Gardens landfill and nearby fields to feed, they cross runways at JBSA-Lackland and Kelly Field at Port San Antonio, posing a threat of bird strikes that can damage and take down planes. Juan Ayala, the city’s director of military and veteran affairs, said the birds also pose a health hazard because their waste “increases nitrogen in the water” and spreads diseases.
Anne Parrish, president of the Bexar Audubon Society, questioned whether moving the birds from Elmendorf Lake would solve the military’s concerns. She compared the possibility of bird strikes to that of a rock hitting a car’s windshield and called it “the danger of operating a vehicle.”
The city can’t control where the birds will choose to relocate, but they aren’t likely to go far and “they’re not going to stop going to this landfill,” she said.
Parrish asked about efforts to
make Covel Gardens less appealing to the birds, and called for more study of the issue before taking action.
Kubiak acknowledged birds are “unpredictable,” and observers will need to be tasked with studying where they’ll go after leaving Bird Island.
“Once they find a safe place, they want to stay there,” she said, as they do with feeding grounds.
Bird strikes account for 60 percent of mishaps reported at the 433rd Airlift Wing, Chief of Safety Major Sam McAnally said. He said the number has been “steadily rising” since 2002, but the exact data were not immediately available Tuesday.
At Kelly Field, there were 61 bird strikes in 2017 and 63 in 2018, but only a small minority of them — eight strikes since 2010 — were known to involve cattle egrets, Aviation Safety Program Manager Bryan Wilmunen said. About 5 percent of bird strikes result in damage, he said.
Bird strikes are most likely during takeoff and landing, but in some cases have occurred at higher altitudes.
Throughout Monday’s meeting, the first of two scheduled to discuss the dispersal plan, several residents accused the city and JBSA of reflexively targeting the birds and failing to let the neighborhood know.
Some interjected during the city’s presentation, offering suggestions including restoring other environments for the birds and alleging that the city was “fearmongering” to push its plan.
“Here’s my question for all of you: do we wait until we kill a crew? That’s what you’re telling me,” Ayala said.
A resolution from the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center and “members of our neighborhood near the Lake,” presented by Kamala Platt, said the birds “play both ecological and cultural roles in the well being and self-identity of the surrounding communities.”
“Any mitigation displacing the cattle egrets will also negatively affect other species who make their homes at Elmendorf Lake,” the resolution stated.
It said community members weren’t involved in the process. The city said it sent mailers to residents within one mile of the park and contacted 12 neighborhood and community organizations by phone and email, among other outreach efforts.
While officials said they don’t plan to remove all cattle egrets from the site, they declined to specify a number that would sufficiently reduce the risks.
Danny Jones, director of airport operations for Port San Antonio, said concerns about birds are “something we deal with every day,” and civilian commercial flights are affected, too.
“It’s not about just terminating anything, it’s trying to find a way to reduce a hazard,” he said.
The city collected comments and questions from attendees and will take them into consideration, Public Engagement Officer Ashley Alvarez said. Some of those questions will be addressed at the second community meeting on the plan, scheduled for Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. at the YWCA Gym at 503 Castroville Road.