Take a minute to think about anything like this at your house or work and plug them up ASAP!
“The Kern River Preserve and the Southern Sierra Research Station have been looking at this problem in the Kern River Valley, California after discovering a 8" vent tube with hundreds of dead bird skulls and carcasses inside. We found that it is a problem with all pipes rather than just PVC pipes. Sean Rowe of Audubon California's Kern River Preserve suggests the following:
"I think pipes of all sizes are a problem. We have found dead birds in pipes from 1 1/2” to 10” in diameter. A very high percentage of pipes I’ve looked into contain at least one dead bird. And pipes don’t have to be in place very long. Twice I have leaned a 3” steel pipe against a building, expecting to use it within a few days, only to find dead birds inside. 2 House Finches in one and a Rock Wren in another.
In our area 8-10” steel pipe (often old well casing) is used to make gate posts. This is common on ranches. I believe I’ve also seen this on some BLM and/or USFS gates. We’ve documented dead American Kestrels, Northern Flickers, Ash-throated Flycatchers, and western fence lizards.
"3” steel pipe – used for fence corner posts – house finches & rock wren
"1 1/2 - 2” plastic pipe – tree swallow
"2-3” outhouse vent pipe – common yellowthroat
I believe so far 45 species have been documented – mostly from claim markers – but folks aren’t looking elsewhere.
Solutions:
• Remove pipes that can be removed
• Plug pipes with sand/gravel or a heavy well fitted rock. Even a few sticks if absolutely nothing else around.
• Pipes that can’t be capped – eg. Plumbing vent pipes (on your rooftop) – cover with1/4” mesh hardware cloth held in place by a stainless steel hose clamp
• Large gate posts – fill with sand, concrete or gravel. Weld on steel caps – some ranches do this, or we have capped with a concrete plug.
• Small steel pipes – used for signs or chain link fence posts – cap with metal cap or crimp top together."
In addition, I was just on the roof of my house and found three uncapped plumbing vent pipes on it, I'll be covering them this weekend. You can use Sean's suggested solution (above) or order vent pipe covers from the following company: http://savepipey.net/
Attached is a pdf file of a one page information sheet that the Kern River Preserve put together to let people know about this problem. The Kern River Preserve is currently working to get an article on this topic in the National Audubon Magazine. However, I think we need to make sure that more land managers/land agencies know about the problem with uncapped pipes.”
Mary Whitfield [wifl1989@gmail.com]
Elke Wind
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